New Mexico’s top water official has issued an order establishing the framework for dealing with future water shortages on the Pecos River.
Water managers have been augmenting supplies in southeastern New Mexico by pumping groundwater, allowing farmers to continue irrigating cropland throughout the Carlsbad area and for New Mexico to make good on its water delivery obligations to neighboring Texas.
While pumping helped to make up for dwindling surface water supplies this year, officials are warning that it might not be able to meet demands in the coming years if drought persists and summer monsoons deliver less rain.