Editor’s note: Every drop from a Rio Rancho tap starts hundreds of feet underground. The city runs entirely on groundwater.
On Oct. 20, the city’s utility managers, its water rights attorney and state geologists walked the Governing Body and the new Public Infrastructure Advisory Board through how the system works. They also covered what it will take to keep it flowing.
Over three stories, The Paper breaks down what they presented, what the numbers show and what it all means for your bill, your business and your neighborhood.
Monday: Do we have enough water?
Tuesday: What’s happening down under
Wednesday: The pipes, the breaks and the bill
By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. — Rio Rancho isn’t running low on water rights. The city pumped 12,582 acre-feet of groundwater last fiscal year, less than half of the 26,439 acre-feet its state permits allow.
The city’s wells have room to spare on the busiest days, too. Nine working wells can produce up to 24.7 million gallons a day, according to the Utilities Department’s Oct. 20 presentation to the Governing Body. This year’s peak demand hit 17 million gallons on Aug. 13.
 |
| Crews drill Rio Rancho’s Well 9. The city plans to bring the redrilled well online by winter of fiscal 2029. (Courtesy City of Rio Rancho) |
The river wants its cut
Every drop of the Rio Grande already belongs to someone, and pumping groundwater pulls water from the river. So state rules require Rio Rancho to offset that effect up front by buying surface water rights, according to a presentation by Maria O’Brien, the city’s water rights attorney with Modrall Sperling.
The city’s 1979 permit calls for about 8,000 acre-feet of offsets by roughly 2050. Its 2003 permit, amended in 2007, requires 728 acre-feet every five years, reaching 8,000 acre-feet by 2063, with a penalty for falling behind. That works out to about 14,000 acre-feet in all. The total can shift up or down depending on how much treated water the city returns to the river and how well its recharge projects work.
As of Oct. 20, the city had acquired or contracted for 6,784.79 acre-feet. That covers its schedule through 2041.
How the city buys water
Buying a water right isn’t a handshake deal. The city must apply to the State Engineer and publish a notice in a newspaper for three straight weeks. Anyone who believes the transfer would harm their own water rights can protest it.
The state also must find that a transfer won’t impair existing rights, undercut conservation or harm the public welfare. New Mexico’s constitution sets the ground rule: “Beneficial use shall be the basis, measure and limit of the right to the use of water.”
Limits beyond the paperwork
Owning rights doesn’t mean the city can pump anywhere it likes. Its permit covers 34 well sites plus Well 9, with limits on each well and each group of wells. The State Engineer can tighten those limits if groundwater drops more than 2.5 feet a year in critical areas, or 2.75 feet elsewhere. The city must update its 40-year water plan every five years. The last update came in 2025.
Customers help pay for those purchases. A water rights acquisition fee on utility bills rises 3% a year through fiscal 2030 under rates the Governing Body approved in March 2025.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 26,439 acre-feet: groundwater the city may pump each year
- 12,582 acre-feet: what it pumped in FY2026 (4.1 billion gallons)
- 6,784.79 acre-feet: offset rights acquired or under contract
- 2041: how far ahead those rights keep the city on schedule
- 1 acre-foot: about 325,851 gallons, enough to cover an acre a foot deep
INFO BOX
Understanding Rio Rancho’s Water: rrnm.gov/5096/Understanding-Rio-Ranchos-Water
Water rights presentation: rrnm.gov/DocumentCenter/View/89993
Utilities presentation: rrnm.gov/DocumentCenter/View/89990
Watch the Oct. 20 work session: riorancho.granicus.com/player/clip/2240?view_id=14