Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham holds a news conference to announce a 50 year plan for water use in New Mexico. The news conference is being held in the Governor’s Office, Tuesday, January 30, 2024. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)
Even as New Mexico water supplies are predicted to decline by more than 25% over the next five decades, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she always views the glass as half-full, in the Tuesday presentation of a long-awaited report addressing the state’s water needs for the next 50 years.
Or really: “45 years, since it took us five years to write it,” the governor quipped.
Over the next 50 years, due to human-driven climate change, scientists say New Mexico will be hotter, drier and lead to less water. Hotter weather shrinks the snowbanks , parches the soils and shrivels the rivers . Less available water in rivers puts more pressure on New Mexico aquifers and reduces the chances to refill them. Climate change also turns up the heat on wildfires , which decimate watersheds , and will deepen droughts and worsen flooding.