Implementation of a Non-Traditional Groundwater Level Monitoring Network in New Mexico

In the southwest U.S., we face a future of warmer annual average temperatures, with increasing variability in precipitation, reduced groundwater recharge, and increasing demand on groundwater. However, because of limited funding, groundwater level monitoring programs in New Mexico have been shrinking over the past several years. Maintaining or growing current groundwater monitoring networks in New Mexico are expanding with “non-traditional” methods. In 2016, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR), through a public-private funding partnership, began the Collaborative Groundwater Monitoring Network (network). The goal of the network is to fill spatial and temporal gaps in groundwater level monitoring, while promoting increased awareness of water issues and providing an important dataset for making informed water management decisions. This collaboration is achieved by collecting data from parties that are monitoring water levels, equipping or manually measuring wells, and providing education and outreach to parties interested in learning to monitor water levels. These data are made available to the public through the NMBGMR webmap.