Cuba, Placitas, Abiquiu-- Chama River (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: disposal, live, to move)

[WestGuest]

I saw a thread about Cuba with the last entry from 2009.

How are these places similar and different? How is the Chama River? Does it have a future or will it dry up over the next 50 years?



It seems these places have summers typical to much of New Mexico - highs near 90 and maybe 12 inches of rain.

Anyone been to these places recently?

[Cactus Hibs]

All of the water that Santa Fe, Albuquerque and other users along the Rio Grande receive from the Colorado River system via the multi-billion dollar San Juan-Chama Diversion project makes its way into the Rio Grande via the Chama. This water is the cornerstone of future water planning in the Rio Grande Basin and is of crucial importance to many, many stakeholders from cities and land grants to tribes and federal agencies. You can bet these players will use every tool at their disposal to keep this water coming. So while no water in the southwest is a guaranteed "sure thing," I would feel more confident about water continuing to flow in the Chama over the long term than I would about any other small- to medium-sized river in New Mexico.

As for climate, the places you list are all higher-elevation than many parts of New Mexico, and thus somewhat cooler and wetter. They also get a fair bit more snow. I suppose they're typical of lower NM mountain towns, though.

[rruff]

Summers are a bit cooler than that on average in Cuba and Abiquiu, and it cools down a lot at night. Rain is 10-13 inches all year. New Mexico

[ole hippie]

My friend lives in Espanola. She tells me they are having a bad drought in nm. According to her the water up in Chama is not clean because the wells are polluted by the septic tanks. Does anyone have info on polluted wells in the chama valley? I want to move back that way.