scholarly journals Gradient Self-Potential Logging in the Rio Grande to Identify Gaining and Losing Reaches across the Mesilla Valley

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1331
Author(s):  
Scott Ikard ◽  
Andrew Teeple ◽  
Delbert Humberson
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Electric Potential ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Diversion Dam ◽  
Gains And Losses ◽  
Self Potential

The Rio Grande/Río Bravo del Norte (hereinafter referred to as the “Rio Grande”) is the primary source of recharge to the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico and Texas. The Mesilla Basin aquifer system is the U.S. part of the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system and is the primary source of water supply to several communities along the United States–Mexico border in and near the Mesilla Valley. Identifying the gaining and losing reaches of the Rio Grande in the Mesilla Valley is therefore critical for managing the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater resources available to stakeholders in the Mesilla Valley and downstream. A gradient self-potential (SP) logging survey was completed in the Rio Grande across the Mesilla Valley between 26 June and 2 July 2020, to identify reaches where surface-water gains and losses were occurring by interpreting an estimate of the streaming-potential component of the electrostatic field in the river, measured during bankfull flow. The survey, completed as part of the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program, began at Leasburg Dam in New Mexico near the northern terminus of the Mesilla Valley and ended ~72 kilometers (km) downstream at Canutillo, Texas. Electric potential data indicated a net losing condition for ~32 km between the Leasburg Dam and Mesilla Diversion Dam in New Mexico, with one ~200-m long reach showing an isolated saline-groundwater gaining condition. Downstream from the Mesilla Diversion Dam, electric-potential data indicated a neutral-to-mild gaining condition for 12 km that transitioned to a mild-to-moderate gaining condition between 12 and ~22 km downstream from the dam, before transitioning back to a losing condition along the remaining 18 km of the survey reach. The interpreted gaining and losing reaches are substantiated by potentiometric surface mapping completed in hydrostratigraphic units of the Mesilla Basin aquifer system between 2010 and 2011, and corroborated by surface-water temperature and conductivity logging and relative median streamflow gains and losses, quantified from streamflow measurements made annually at 16 seepage-measurement stations along the survey reach between 1988 and 1998 and between 2004 and 2013. The gaining and losing reaches of the Rio Grande in the Mesilla Valley, interpreted from electric potential data, compare well with relative median streamflow gains and losses along the 72-km long survey reach.

scholarly journals Challenges and Opportunities for Water of the Rio Grande

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Edward Rister ◽  
Allen W. Sturdivant ◽  
Ronald D. Lacewell ◽  
Ari M. Michelsen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Water Rights ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
The United States ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Interstate Compacts

The Rio Grande has headwaters in Colorado, flows through New Mexico, and serves as the United States-Mexico border in Texas, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. Snow melt in Colorado and northern New Mexico constitutes the water river supply for New Mexico and the El Paso region, whereas summer monsoonal flow from the Rio Conchos in Mexico and tributaries, including the Pecos River, provides the Rio Grande flow for southern Texas. The region is mostly semiarid with frequent long-term drought periods but is also characterized by a substantial irrigated agriculture sector and a rapidly growing population. International treaties and interstate compacts provide the rules for allocation of Rio Grande waters between the United States and Mexico and among Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Water rights in Texas have been adjudicated, but the adjudication process was based on a wet period; hence, contemporary Rio Grande water rights are overallocated. Issues related to the waters of the Rio Grande include frequent drought, increased municipal demand caused by a rapidly increasing population, supply variability, underdeliveries from Mexico, increasing salinity, inefficient delivery systems, health issues of the population, no economic/financial incentives for farmers to conserve, and water is not typically priced for efficiency. Stakeholders are interested in identifying solutions to limited water supplies while there is increasing demand. There are several activities in place addressing Rio Grande-related water needs, including enhancing delivery distribution efficiency of raw water, conversion of rights from agriculture to urban, improving both agricultural irrigation field distribution and urban use efficiency, developments in desalination, and litigation. None of the solutions are easy or inexpensive, but there are encouraging cooperative attitudes between stakeholders.

scholarly journals Assessing the vulnerability of public-supply wells to contamination: Rio Grande aquifer system in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Fact Sheet ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha L. Jagucki ◽  
Laura M. Bexfield ◽  
Charles E. Heywood ◽  
Sandra M. Eberts
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Public Supply

scholarly journals Groundwater Regulation and the Development of Alternative Source Waters to Prevent Subsidence, Houston Region, Texas, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 382 ◽  
pp. 797-801
Author(s):  
Christina Petersen ◽  
Michael J. Turco ◽  
Alia Vinson ◽  
Joseph A. Turco ◽  
Alan Petrov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The City ◽  
Houston Area ◽  
Source Waters

Abstract. Since the development of the coastal areas near present-day Houston, Texas, USA, subsidence has been a significant public policy concern. Subsidence in this area is caused by the extraction of groundwater from the Coastal Lowlands aquifer system, locally referred to as the Gulf Coast Aquifer. Concerns associated with subsidence in the Houston area include coastal inundation from storm surge, inland flooding, and critical infrastructure damage. The Houston area receives about 126 cm of precipitation each year, making flooding a critical issue in the region. The Houston area is the 4th largest city in the United States with a population of about 6.89 million (2017) and has a total water demand of about 4 Mm3 per day (2017). In the 1950s the City of Houston began the development of several reservoirs to provide water for the rapidly growing city. In 1975, following decades of subsidence totaling over 3 m, the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (District) began regulating the use of groundwater and shifting the primary water supply for the region from groundwater to treated surface water to cease on-going and prevent future subsidence. Leveraging the alternative resources developed by the City of Houston in the 1950s, the District's regulatory framework focuses on spatial prioritization and the systematic conversion to alternative source waters. The District's regulatory plan includes three planning areas. Currently, the regional water authorities and the City of Houston are developing nearly five billion dollars (USD) in infrastructure to produce and deliver an additional 1.2 Mm3 per day of treated surface water to Houston and the surrounding communities. Resource development, public engagement, and political foresight have resulted in a reasonable approach to shift source waters and implement a plan to dramatically reduce and stop subsidence in the region. Figure 2 presents subsidence rates (2017) by regulatory area. Results show that the implementation of the regulatory program has substantially slowed subsidence in Areas 1 and 2, where full conversion has taken place. Planning the future water needs of the Houston area resulted in a robust and effective collaboration between the regulated community and the District. Analysis of historical source water use, aquifer response, and subsidence in the Houston area shows that the reasonable management of groundwater use in the Houston region is vital for the long-term prevention of subsidence and increases the resilience of the entire region.

The Diversion of Interstate Waters in the United States

1938 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 907-921
Author(s):  
James Simsarian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
The Supreme Court

Two cases which are concerned with the diversion of the waters of interstate streams were before the United States Supreme Court in the October term of 1937. One of them, Texas v. New Mexico, will be withdrawn from the Court docket when the Rio Grande compact signed by representatives of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas and a representative of the United States on March 18,1938, enters into effect. The other case, Nebraska v. Wyoming and Colorado, was first argued before the Supreme Court in 1935. In May, 1938, the Court granted the petition of the United States for permission to intervene. Further written briefs and oral arguments were to be considered by the Court when the fall term of 1938 opened.

Surface Water Seepage Effects on Shallow Ground-Water Quality Along the Rio Grande in Northern New Mexico

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Helmus ◽  
A.G. Fernald ◽  
D.M. VanLeeuwen ◽  
L.B. Abbott ◽  
A.L. Ulery ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Ground Water ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Ground Water Quality ◽  
Water Seepage
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