**Statement of Robert M. Hirsch**

**Associate Director for Water**

**United States Geological Survey**

**U.S. Department of the Interior\
Before the**

**Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee**

**on**

**S. 324, \"New Mexico Aquifer Assessment Act of 2007\"**

**April 25, 2007**

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am Dr. Robert M. Hirsch,
Associate Director for Water for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I
thank you for the opportunity to provide the views of the Department of
the Interior (Department) on S. 324, the \"New Mexico Aquifer Assessment
Act of 2007.\"

The Department agrees that the goals of the bill are commendable and the
needs that could be addressed are real; however, we have concerns with
this bill, including the availability of funding for the work proposed
in the context of overall funding for the Administration\'s priorities.
To ensure appropriate flexibility in budgetary management, the
Administration recommends that this bill be amended to authorize rather
than require the study within a statutorily prescribed timeframe. We
would like to work with the committee to revise the bill to address
these issues.

**S. 324, The \"New Mexico Aquifer Assessment Act of 2007\"**

S. 324 directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Director of the USGS, to conduct a study on ground-water resources in
the State of New Mexico. The role identified for the Department in this
bill is consistent with the leadership role of USGS in monitoring and
assessing ground-water resources.

As the Nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and
civilian mapping agency, the USGS conducts the most extensive
ground-water and surface-water investigations in the Nation in
conjunction with State and local partners. The USGS New Mexico Water
Science Center currently operates 203 streamflow stations and routinely
measures ground-water levels at 2573 well sites through cooperative
programs with several Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies. In
addition to hydrologic monitoring programs, the USGS is providing
hydrologic understanding to water agencies through the Cooperative Water
Program by conducting several investigative projects that include
describing the interaction of surface water and ground water in the
Mesilla, upper Rio Hondo, and Middle Rio Grande Basins; planning
geohydrologic studies in the Salt Basin; and evaluating water quality of
the Rio Grande and Rio Chama. In support of all water agencies within
New Mexico, USGS technical specialists actively participate on work
groups and committees addressing critical New Mexico water issues.
Currently, personnel are involved in the Technical Subcommittee of the
Gila-San Francisco Coordinating Committee, the Española Basin Technical
Advisory Group, and the Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model Work
Group.

The USGS has a long history of conducting ground-water assessments at a
regional scale. In the 1980s, 25 regional aquifer systems were studied
in detail as part of the Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA)
Program, including the Southwest Alluvial basins, High Plains aquifer,
and San Juan Basin in New Mexico. More recently, the Middle Rio Grande
Basin was studied extensively for 6 years as a partnership among
Federal, State, and local sources.

Congress directed the USGS in their fiscal year (FY) 2002 appropriation
to \"prepare a report to describe the scope and magnitude of the efforts
needed to provide periodic assessments of the status and trends in the
availability and use of freshwater resources.\" We are midway through a
pilot project in the Great Lakes region and a small effort in the Lower
Colorado River basin to develop approaches for national assessment that
began in FY 2005 as part of the USGS Ground-Water Resources Program. The
approaches developed to date could be applied to New Mexico and
nationwide. However, we note that a comprehensive study of a major
aquifer system commonly takes 4 or more years to complete; and thus, the
2-year time frame for completing the overall study proposed by S. 324
would yield limited results.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the USGS concurs with the goals of S. 324. The proposed
effort would help ensure long-term water supplies for the citizens,
businesses, industry, and natural features of New Mexico, and the
expertise of USGS is highly relevant to the tasks contemplated by the
legislation. However, we are concerned with the funding requirements
that accompany S. 324. We note that there are no funds in this year's
budget or the President's FY 2008 budget to implement the legislation,
and any future funding requests would have to compete with other
priority projects for funds. We also note there are some ongoing efforts
to address the goals of the Act. Finally, individual major aquifer
studies commonly require 4 or more years to complete, and thus, the
2-year time frame for completing the overall study proposed by S. 324
would yield limited results.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to present this testimony.
I will be pleased to respond to questions you and other Members of the
Committee may have.