When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

Benjamin Franklin

The past year has been the driest or second driest in most Southwestern states, including New Mexico. Although many farms and communities have started to mandate water restrictions, the Southwest still faces a threat that goes beyond a single bad year. Spurred by climate change, hotter and dryer temps are depleting water supplies.

Over the past several years, underground aquifers, streams, and rivers have been drying up all across New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment is known as a semi-arid or semi-high-desert climate, where dry spells have always been a part of living here. However, the average temperature has risen 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit since the ‘70s, and the snowpack in the Rocky Mountains (the life-blood of water for our state) has decreased significantly over the past 30 years.

A 2017 report by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources projected that the useable lifetime of the High Plains Aquifer in central-eastern New Mexico has been shortened to less than 10 years. And, a Bernalillo County Water Level Monitoring Project report showed that groundwater levels in the East Mountains have decreased by an average of 1.8 feet per year from 2010-2017.

Water is becoming more and precious as the years go on.

So why have the plans for a proposed 4,000 new home community in the East Mountains of New Mexico been unanimously approved by The Edgewood Planning and Zoning Commission?

Edgewood is a small community that lies just 30 miles east of Albuquerque, with a modest population of about 6,000. Many residents who have settled in this area were initially attracted by its quiet, rural feel, away from the hustle and bustle of the “Duke City.” You can routinely drive by homes nestled in several acres, many of which are also home to a variety of livestock and critters such as chickens, sheep, horses, and goats.  Although the small, rural feel of Edgewood is what appeals to me and many in this community, we are all too well aware of how precious water is.

The proposed plan, known as the Campbell Ranch master plan, was first proposed back in 2002 but was tabled due to questions regarding the availability of water. The plan, however, has been revived and calls for the development of 8,000 acres of current grazing land into 4,000 homes, a resort, and a golf course.

During a recent community meeting, many Edgewood area residents voiced their concerns about the lack of water. One resident who attended the forum stated, “I don’t want to run out of water. If I wanted to run out of water, I would’ve moved somewhere else.” “Our well has gone dry, our neighbors’ wells are going dry,” said another. One more resident added, “I just don’t see how you’re going to get water for 4,000 homes. I just think the development is too big.”

Steve Kellenberg, the planner for Campbell Ranch, stated that the increase in job growth and the expanding population in the area calls for such a project. “There’s increasing job growth, there’s expanding population, there’s reduced housing production and there’s an unmet housing need,” said Kellenberg. “We think the original was fundamentally sound and just needs a little tuning up.”

It is true that the population of Edgewood has increased by 2000 people since 2017, however, job growth has not been significant. The job market increase in Edgewood has risen just 3.1% over the last year, but future job growth over the next ten years is predicted to be 30.5% (lower than the US average of 33.5%).

The master plan would use land northeast of the intersection of NM 14 and Frost and spans three counties (Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe).

The master plan has gone through some modifications since its first proposal in 2002.  In 2018, a Bernalillo County judge denied an application to pump groundwater for the project from the nearby Sandia Basin, stating the proposal did not factor in consider climate change and was not in compliance with New Mexico water conservation efforts. The proposal had sought to pull 350 acre-feet of water a year from the basin. Last December, the Office of the State Engineer closed the Sandia Basin and part of the Rio Grande Basin to new commercial wells due to falling water levels of 2½ feet per year.

So, if the developers are unable to independently provide water from aquifers or dig new wells, the water would have to come from somewhere else, probably local utilities. Epcor Water and the Entranosa Water and Wastewater Association are the two main water utilities in the area, and the larger of the two, Entranosa, is a local utility. Epcor is owned by the city of Edmonton in Canada. Both draw water from the Estancia Basin.

Mark Emery, president of the Sandia Knowles Neighborhood Association, stated during the forum that he doubts the Estancia Basin could support 4,000 homes. “Anyone building a home must show there’s enough water to support that dwelling for 75 years, an increasingly difficult task that seems impossible to do with thousands of homes,” he said. The Estancia Basin in Torrance County, just south of Moriarty, has experienced a high proportion of wells that are drying up.

As the Campbell Ranch development project unfolds, we will see what happens. It would be a hardship for residents to experience a “Capetown scenario” in which at the height of the water shortage crisis in 2018, and just days before dams ran dry, residents were restricted to 50 liters per day (just over 13 gallons) for all cooking, drinking, washing, and bathing. The average American uses between 300 and 375 liters (80-100 gallons) per day, according to the US Geological Survey.

Let that sink in.