We are experiencing sever drought conditions here in northern New Mexico. we haven’t had any significant precipitation since October last year.
“The late monsoon season was pretty good for most of the state, particularly the eastern plains.” said Royce Fontenot, senior hydrologist with the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service.
“But then around Oct. 10, it was like someone turned off the tap,” he said. “Southwest New Mexico did a bit better, but for the most part, the rain just stopped and the La Niña took full grip.” The La Niña weather cycle is pushing the jet stream north of New Mexico causing extremely dry conditions. Unfortunately for us, October 10th was when we closed on our property here.
Our home is almost entirely dependent on roof catchment for our water. Our approximately 2000 sq. ft. roof drains into two 3000 gal. cisterns. When we moved in on October 10th the cisterns where almost completely full due to heavy rainfall over the monsoon season. Despite our water conservation efforts, now four months later we are at about 20 per cent. Our other source of domestic water is a community well, in which we own a share. We are authorized to draw 2000 gal. a month., and transport the water from the well to our property using a 1000 gal. water tank on a trailer. I did a 1000 gal. draw in January and soon after one of the pumps failed at the well. Thankfully it is now repaired, and I will be able to do a 2000 gal. draw this week. This should hold us over for a couple months for our domestic needs, but we would prefer to not be dependent on well water.
We have a gray water system that takes the water from our laundry, bathroom sinks, and the bath and shower and drink though a large greenhouse planter and then out to a 1000 gal. cistern that is used to irrigator the fruit trees as well as some conifers that the previous owner has planted around the house. We also have a vegetable garden that uses domestic water.
The predictions are not good for the next year with snowfall being only 27% of normal in the Sangre de Christos.
Conservancy district hydrologist David Gensler stated “We’ve been here before, and there’s a lot of winter yet to come,” he said. In New Mexico, “a lot of moisture in snowpack materializes in March, April and sometimes May.”
Still, if things don’t change, he conceded, “this could turn out to be one of the drier years on record.”
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