Three different mathematical projections were drawn up for Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties. We just wanted to know what will happen if the region keeps growing as has it has been. Most of the region's population is in the Santa Fe sub-basin. A water supply study was performed by Duke Engineering, funded by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Interstate Stream Commission. Duke Engineering used a 1992 infrared photo of the area to calculate agricultural irrigation by sub-basin.
Water rights appear to exceed the acreage being irrigated.
The next stage of the Jemez y Sangre plan will be the development of alternatives. The report is included below. Stowe, who is the planner and coordinator for the region, says the next big hurdle was negotiating the contract, which took six months. Then the region put out a Request for Qualifications. The contractors are concentrating on the seven groundwater basins in the region, particularly the San Augustine, Alamosa Creek, Jornado del Muerto and Tularosa basins, which are not hydrologically attached to the Rio Grande.