NM continues to cut its water use

Water managers across New Mexico aren’t giving up on their push for residents to conserve water even though severe drought has disappeared from the state. For the first time in more than four years, federal maps show the worst levels of drought are now gone from the state, and only abnormally dry to moderate conditions exist in the western half of the state. A healthy monsoon season is to thank, and more moisture is on the way this week for parts of central and western New Mexico, forecasters with the National Weather Service said. However, watering restrictions in Albuquerque will not end soon, said Katherine Yuhas, the conservation officer for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. “Just because it rained doesn’t mean that all of a sudden the fact that we live in a desert has changed. The conservation message remains in effect,” she said. The good news: New Mexico’s largest city is on track to curb its water use again this year. As of mid-August, residents and businesses had used 1.1 billion gallons less than last year. Water use has been going down steadily in Albuquerque since 1995, Yuhas said, and the trends are no different in Santa Fe and Las Cruces...more