USGS Science in New Mexico

It's spring-cleaning time! 🌻🧼

Here at the New Mexico Water Science Center, we take our cleaning seriously and give our scientific instruments a thorough cleaning and calibration check more often than just springtime. Doing so helps keep our data clean, reliable, and ready for everyone to use year-round.

📷: Specialist Lauren Henson lending a hand to clean a water-quality monitor on the Rio Grande below Cochiti Dam, NM.

These waters run deep! 🌊

The waters of Ponil Creek have seen humans breaking into its ice dating back to early Puebloan occupation. In more recent times, the Ponil Creek near Cimarron streamgage was established in 1916 and has seen generations of Hydrologic Technicians break through its ice to get the best quality data for New Mexico and beyond.

📷 1: View of a frozen Ponil Creek with the streamgage house along the creek. Photo credit: Lindsay Keeney, USGS NMWSC.
📷 2: View showing extent of frozen creek upstream of streamgage. Photo credit: Lindsay Keeney, USGS NMWSC.

How do we know if aquifer levels are changing? 💧

In order to understand the status of our state's aquifers, the USGS sends measuring tapes down hundreds of wells every year. This past December and January alone, over 500 water level measurements were made by the New Mexico Water Science Center with assistance from the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and the Arizona Water Science Center.

With groundwater accounting for over 50% of New Mexico’s total water supply and 78% of our drinking water, it is a vital resource to keep track of!

What do you think is the deepest well measured in New Mexico? 🤔

📷 1 and 2: Technician measuring water levels in southern New Mexico. Photo Credit: Lauren Henson, USGS

Thanks for the shoutout, USGS Water Resources! 🙌

Did you know there is ice fishing in New Mexico? 🎣

Eagle Nest Lake, the highest-elevation reservoir in the state, is a popular ice fishing destination. Be sure to check the USGS reservoir gage site for lake levels before planning your next ice fishing trip! ❄️📈

View the data: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-07205500

📷 1: View of ice-covered Eagle Nest Lake from the South.
📷 2: Graph of reservoir storage over time from the USGS Eagle Nest Lake nr Eagle Nest, NM reservoir level gage.