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Local data show steep groundwater declines; county presentation urges data digitization and planning
Summary
A local researcher told Luna County commissioners that the county’s aquifer has declined substantially over decades, recharge is minimal and agriculture uses most water; she urged digitizing legacy records, applying for grants, and exploring alternatives such as desalination or industrial retrofits.
Mary Mead, a local data analyst and Red Cross volunteer, presented an analysis of Luna County’s groundwater conditions at the Sept. 11 commission meeting, telling commissioners that long-term groundwater declines and limited recharge pose a planning challenge.
Mead explained water units for a general audience: "1 acre foot is 326,000 gallons of water," and noted that many domestic wells have historically been permitted for 3 acre-feet, recently reduced to 1 for new housing. She summarized basin estimates and usable volumes: earlier maps estimated 20,000,000 acre-feet near the surface in 1914, but "our usable amount roughly comes down to about 5 to 6,000,000 acre feet of water available to us." Mead said groundwater levels between Deming and Columbus have fallen as much as 80–120 feet in the last 40–60 years.
Mead told the board agriculture consumes the lion’s share of withdrawals — she cited an estimated ~100,000 acre-feet annually for irrigated agriculture compared with roughly 5,000 acre-feet for municipal water for Deming and Columbus combined. She said the Luna Energy (power) facility uses roughly 2,500 acre-feet and has adjudicated access to 8,000 acre-feet; she flagged a lack of complete digital records and said paper reports hid higher actual usage in some cases.
Mead described how prior appropriation and adjudication limit available water rights in the Mimbres/Members basin: senior rights holders have priority and unused rights may forfeit after years of non-use under beneficial-use doctrine. She noted limited recharge — under 2% in Luna County in a 2018 study compared with higher recharge in other basins — and an estimated long-term basin decline of about 2,600,000 acre-feet over 80 years.
On remedies, Mead suggested forming a working group, digitizing legacy water records, pursuing grants (including assistance from the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and fiscal managers), and exploring industrial retrofits or desalination as long-term options. She said she had posted primary documents online and provided a QR code and survey for residents to report well use and local conditions.
Commissioners thanked Mead and discussed next steps. One commissioner noted that agriculture is the community’s backbone while also endorsing grant-seeking and exploring possible changes at large industrial users (air‑cooling or closed-loop systems) to lower consumptive use. The commission did not take formal regulatory action during the meeting.
