Water Supply

Water Reports and Planning Documents Library

Please visit our Reports and Documents Library to view all water related documents such as the Long-range Water Supply Plan, Non-potable Water Supply Plan, Drinking Water Quality Reports and more.

LONG-RANGE WATER SUPPLY PLAN - FUTURE OF OUR WATER

The future of our water supply is contingent on future population, conservation measures, water rights, and risks to the supply.

In 2006, a comprehensive assessment, analysis and projection of future water demands were documented in the Long-range Water Supply Plan. It was approved by the Board of Public Utilities and adopted by the County Council in August 2006.

In 2015, DPU began a process to revise this Plan to reflect current population and water demand projections, evaluate potential climate change impacts, and assess various water supply options, including the timing for development of the County's San Juan-Chama water rights.  The Revised Long-range Water Supply Plan was approved by Board and Council in January 2018.


WATER RIGHTS

Total water rights available to the water production system as determined by the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer amount to 5,541.3 acre-feet/year. Additionally, Los Alamos has a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for 1,200 acre-feet of water per year from the San Juan/Chama transmountain diversion project. The San Juan/Chama surface water has never been used in Los Alamos.

WATER SOURCE

The water source for Los Alamos comes from groundwater pumped by twelve wells, which tap the main aquifer under the Pajarito Plateau, part of the Santa Fe formation. Our system has wellhead protection in place.  We use on-site generated sodium hypochlorite systems to disinfect the water.