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Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority customers used an average of 159 gallons per capita per day in 2009, down from 252 gallons in 1994.
I listen to the local entities on my police scanner - especially at this time of year when fire danger in Ruidoso is peaking.
I hear when the water meter reader calls in to the office to request a use history for someone because he thinks their meter reading is too high for some reason. It's amazing to hear that some of the local homeowners regularly use up to 100,000 gals per month! It's obvious that they have no money worries since the village charges on a scale that sees high users paying ever higher rates.
And this is in a town where there are very few lawns and gardens! I am one of the exceptions, but all of my plantings are drought resistant native grasses and wildflowers. My highest ever summer use is about 11,000 gallons in a month in the 13 years I've lived here.
Jaxart, I do not understand your point. "Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority customers used an average of 159 gallons per capita per day in 2009" is about 4,770 gallons of water used per person per month for the city of Albuquerque for 2009. That is an average per person.
Outdoor water use varies depending on climate and irrigation requirements. Where outdoor water uses are a factor, they generally account for 50% to 70% of total residential water use. If you xeriscape, outdoor water use may account for only about 3% or less of the total residential water use. So whether residential use includes outdoor use or not, it behooves all of us to rip that Kentucky Bluegrass out of there and replace it with Buffalo Grass or something equally suited for the desert. Lawns are a pain to maintain anyway, so here's your excuse to get rid of that chore.
Jaxart, I do not understand your point. "Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority customers used an average of 159 gallons per capita per day in 2009" is about 4,770 gallons of water used per person per month for the city of Albuquerque for 2009. That is an average per person.
OHHH...sorry about that. I missed the "per capita" in your earlier post. I find that hard to believe that people there use that much more water than on the average elsewhere?
The village of Ruidoso base rate is for the first 4,000 gallons per month per household. That's supposed to be a "generous" allowance for a household of four - NOT including outdoor watering. Go over the 4,000 and the cost increases in stepped increments.
My response was meant to give examples of how widely water use can vary if people live in a water district where the only restrictions on overuse are the ability to pay - vs - people who own their own wells where the limits are set by law (supposedly).
OHHH...sorry about that. I missed the "per capita" in your earlier post. I find that hard to believe that people there use that much more water than on the average elsewhere?
That's their statistics. Could have some heavy users. There are some pretty green large lawns in some neighborhoods...
That's their statistics. Could have some heavy users. There are some pretty green large lawns in some neighborhoods...
Rich
I see we're comparing to different basis. I was quoting use rates for "household" use - EXCLUSIVE of outdoor use.
If the basis is TOTAL use per property owner then quoting a per capita average isn't going to be very useful. The daily average is going to be heavily skewed toward those who do a lot of outdoor watering.
By the same token, it's a real problem in Ruidoso to come up with an accurate per capita daily use rate for the entire village because of the numerous leaks in the antiquated parts of the distribution system. Studies have shown significant differences in the water treatment plant metering and the actual use by customers in a given time period.
For a large, rather efficient garden and maybe a handful or two of fruit trees, I would assume 1 acre/ft of water would do the job along with mother nature helping out here and there. This is no commercial operation here by any stretch of the imagination. Also, I'm looking at putting a rainwater catchment system in as well, just to help out a little.
Am I safe to assume that this much water would be ok?
Another possibility is to buy 10acres and cultivate 1... then you have 10 times the allowable to draw... that would be 10ft per cultivated acre. If you don't need to be near town, you should be able to get 10acres for <$50k. 1 acre is 209ft on a side so that is a pretty big garden. Like I said earlier, summer rain (early July to mid Sept) is pretty reliable in the "wetter" parts of the state so you might not need a lot.
I'm not up to speed on the laws regarding water diversion and catchment, but some places this isn't legal either... ie the rancher downstream owns the rights to the rain that falls on your land.
EDIT: Just a note on how much water that is. Say your growing season is 6 months, 1 foot of water/yr means you can add 2 inches of equivalent rain per month... which is quite a bit. Multiply by 10 and you could be drowning your garden very easily.
I live in the NW now, with water seemingly coming out of our ears, but it's funny to see how many folks are so involved with natural resource conservation up here, even without many limitations imposed on us.
In most places water conservation is simply a waste of effort. If you aren't depleting aquifers faster than they replenish, then water renews quite well on it's own. The great majority of water use is for agriculture and industry at any rate... and the agriculture use is often inefficient. Farms and ranches have 100 year old + rights that can't be touched.
Eventually water will get more expensive, the farmers will sell their rights so it can be used for residential, and food will be grown in places that have plenty of water. I don't foresee a *real* crisis... except for people who think everything is a crisis... anytime soon.
not sure is you are still looking but is you are serious about preservation I know of a about thousand acers + about 45 minutes away from Albuquerque. It is family ranch if my aunt like you you could end up with a few thousand acers. Also people to keep an eye on it for you. We have not permited hunting for decades, there are lots indian berial grounds it was a prime location because of the natural water that is very rare in this part of New Mexico, and very old ghoats town that is almost gone. When I say water I mean durring the dry deason it flows just a few yards but pools well. I personal own a lot of the ranch and might buy one of my aunts out soon becasue her husband died but would rather not have to.
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Last edited by Poncho_NM; 12-29-2010 at 08:46 AM..
Hi...my husband and I are looking to buy land in NM but not sure where to start. I'm hoping someone can give us some suggestions on where to start looking? We are also looking at Arizona...if anyone has any suggestions there.
I have alot of health issues and need to be in a dryer climate with low humidity, we like the higher elevation (preferably 6000-7000 not necessarily high desert), we'd love to live in a small country conservative town (2-5000 population) with greenery (trees and grass) for our animals and mountain views. Trout fishing is a BONUS!
Any help would be awesome! Thanks!
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Wanting To Buy Land In NM
