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New Mexico Water eNews

 

February 2021

Dr. Sangu Angadi evaluating deep rooted Amaranth species, which are related to well adopted pigweed, as an alternative crop to reduce irrigation water use.

Meet the Researcher

Sangamesh Angadi, Professor, New Mexico State University
by Jeanette Torres, NM WRRI Program Coordinator

 Sangamesh (Sangu) Angadi is a professor of crop stress physiology for the Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) Department at the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Agricultural Science Center at Clovis. He teaches special topic classes for graduate students and presents guest lectures in several courses. Sangu has written and collaborated with the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) on several proposals over the years and mentions that his research's primary goal is to improve our agriculture's water productivity and conserve water resources.

 Angadi completed both his BS (1983) and MS (1985) in Agriculture from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, focusing on agronomic management of rainfed hybrid cotton. He earned his PhD (2001) from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, researching water relations of different height sunflower cultivars. Throughout his career, Sangu has worked as a statistician, scientist, and research/teaching assistant.

Read entire article by clicking here.

NM WRRI Student Water Research Grant recipient: Zahra Abbasian, Chemical and Materials Engineering PhD student from NMSU.

PhD student from NMSU awarded Student Water Research Grant to study emerging contaminants PFAS
by Marcus Gay, NM WRRI Student Program Coordinator

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals used in food packaging, clothing, cleaning products, dental floss, nonstick cookware, and many other products that we use in our daily lives. Although more research is needed on the subject, recent studies have shown that exposure to large amounts of PFAS may negatively affect human health. Many PFAS chemicals do not break down naturally. The stable carbon-fluorine bond protects PFAS structures against environmental degradation and results in air, soil, and groundwater accumulation.

In 2018, the New Mexico Environment Department reported that PFAS associated with firefighting foams used in military training exercises were discovered in groundwater at and around Cannon Air Force Base and Holloman Air Force Base. Due to the ability of PFAS to bioaccumulate in animals, there is concern about some of the contaminated wells supplying drinking water to local dairies.

Read entire article by clicking here.

Figure 1. Comparison of groundwater storage in two different aquifer types: a. Annual change in groundwater storage for two different counties from the NM DSWB, b. Location of example NM aquifers with different recharge rates.

Updated NM Dynamic Statewide Water Budget
Model available

by Kevin Perez, NM WRRI Program Specialist; Ahmed Mashaly, NM WRRI Graduate Research Assistant; Sam Fernald, NM WRRI Director

The NM WRRI has recently updated the New Mexico Dynamic Statewide Water Budget (NM DSWB) model, which is supported in part by the State of New Mexico as part of the Statewide Water Assessment. This new version includes updated input data for the historical period by addition of the Water Use by Categories report released in 2019 by the NM Office of the State Engineer. The NM WRRI has released data visualizations for the latest version of the model on its web page.

The NM DSWB provides a comprehensive understanding of the water budget at different spatial scales: statewide, water planning regions (WPR), river basins and counties. The historical period of the model uses existing data to show historical water budgets with all major flows and storage in New Mexico from 1975-2018. The future period provides future scenarios from 2019-2099, which includes options for different climate change models, population growth, water use efficiency, and agricultural land acreage (Peterson et al., 2019).

One example of the NM DSWB capabilities is shown in the figure above highlighting the diversity of New Mexico’s hydrology. Comparison of the historical changes in groundwater storage over the last 43 years is very different for two selected counties. In Lea County, the groundwater storage has been steadily declining, while in Socorro County, groundwater storage has been relatively stable [See graph in Figure 1.a]. In Lea County, most groundwater used is fossil groundwater from aquifers that receive very little to no recharge from the surface. In Socorro County, by contrast, groundwater is recharged through connections to the Rio Grande during periods with sufficient river flow. Seepage from rivers, canals, and irrigated landscapes recharges river-connected aquifers [See aquifer map in Figure 1.b]. The model helps visualize New Mexico’s hydrologic diversity as part of planning our water future.

REFERENCE:

Peterson, K., Hanson, A., Roach, J., Randall, J., Thomson, B. 2019. A Dynamic Statewide Water Budget for New Mexico: Phase III – Future Scenario Implementation.

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