Join three professionals who worked as members of the 2022 NM Water Policy and Infrastructure Task Force to learn about the Water Security Agenda for the 2025 Legislature. The plain truth is the Legislature has, for years, neglected to adequately fund implementation of the laws it has passed and the programs it has started to increase the resilience of New Mexico’s overused and shrinking water supplies. Modernization of state water agencies, robust regional water security planning, and stopping illegal water overuse are essential steps toward improved water security for all New Mexico regions and communities.
The Middle Rio Grande through Albuquerque dried for 50 days last summer — and this year it could happen even earlier. With reservoirs at historic lows and 85% of New Mexico's Rio Grande water use deemed unsustainable, water managers and advocates say the region faces not a temporary drought but permanent aridification.