ALBUQUERQUE – Water managers across New Mexico aren’t giving up on their push for residents to conserve water even though severe drought has disappeared.
For the first time in more than four years, federal maps show the worst levels of drought are gone from the state, and only abnormally dry to moderate conditions exist in the western half of the state.
A healthy monsoon season is to thank, and more moisture is on the way this week for parts of central and western New Mexico, forecasters with the National Weather Service said.
However, watering restrictions in Albuquerque will not end anytime soon, said Katherine Yuhas, the conservation officer for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. “Just because it rained doesn’t mean that all of a sudden the fact that we live in a desert has changed. The conservation message remains in effect,” she said.
The good news: New Mexico’s largest city is on track to curb its water use again this year. By mid-August, residents and businesses used 1.1 billion gallons less than last year.
Water use has been going down steadily in Albuquerque since 1995, Yuhas said, and the trends are no different in Santa Fe and Las Cruces.
Santa Fe has recorded its lowest demand in years this summer, and it has reduced use by a couple million gallons per day during peak times.
“It’s way down,” utilities manager Rick Carpenter said, He noted that Santa Fe is on track to meet or beat the record set last year when residents and businesses decreased use to 95 gallons per person per day, making it the lowest in the Southwest.
“Our water customers are very conscious of the need to conserve, and that’s their mindset. Drought or no drought, they’re mindful of the value of water,” Carpenter said.
In southern New Mexico, where hot temperatures can result in higher demand, Las Cruces is moving ahead with its conservation program. The city marked a new low of 166 gallons per person per day last year, and it is on track to meet conservation goals again this year.
Leslie Kryder, the water-conservation program coordinator with Las Cruces Utilities, said city crews are tearing out turf in public areas and landscaping medians with drought-tolerant plants to limit use.
