New Mexico And Water....

InvalidID · #1 01/10/15, 08:02 PM

I kinda fell in love with New Mexico this year. That's a pretty big deal considering I HATE THE DESERT!!!

So I'm hoping you guys will tell me there's no realistic way to grow anything there. I'm thinking water must be a huge issue. They wouldn't seem to subscribe to the Texas, Law of the Biggest Pump... Can anyone tell me what it's like trying to get water there?

featherbottoms · #2 01/11/15, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InvalidID

I kinda fell in love with New Mexico this year. That's a pretty big deal considering I HATE THE DESERT!!!

So I'm hoping you guys will tell me there's no realistic way to grow anything there. I'm thinking water must be a huge issue. They wouldn't seem to subscribe to the Texas, Law of the Biggest Pump... Can anyone tell me what it's like trying to get water there?

That completely depends on what area of New Mexico you are talking about.

AmericanStand · #3 01/11/15, 09:24 AM

I have a friend who lives in a Cali place with NO water.
He does the same thing they have done there for a 100 years.
He has it hauled in.

gila_dog · #4 01/11/15, 04:54 PM

If you want to live in NM water is probably the most important consideration there is. There isn't much of it, and it's all already spoken for. In fact there are more legitimate claims to the water, in the form of "water rights" than there is water. Where I live there is plenty of water 50 feet or so from the surface, and even a little river flowing by. But you have to have a permit to drill a well, and then you can't water a garden or animals without buying water rights, and that's a big PIA and costs a lot of money. I know because I just went thru all that. You're also not supposed to harvest rain and snow off your roof. You're supposed to let it run off and make mud puddles. A tiny bit goes into the underground aquifer but most of it evaporates. There isn't enough rain or snow except when there's way too much. So, in addition to the scarcity of water, there's high crime and low wages, and forest fires, and bad roads. So why do people fall in love with the place? Maybe it's the vast beautiful, mostly empty country, a lot of which is public land where you can hunt, fish, and explore. Or maybe it's the good food and the open, friendly people, and the freedom we enjoy. There's something about the place that attracts way more than its share of artists. Gun ownership is common and has few rules. You can carry a loaded gun on your person or in your vehicle. Concealed carry requires a permit. The population is 50% Hispanic (going back 400 years), 10% Indians, and 40% everybody else.

To answer your question, tho, find where the water is, which is mostly along the few rivers. Most of that wild, beautiful, empty country you see is uninhabitable because there is no water, or it's National Forest or BLM land, or Indian reservations. Along the rivers you will find plenty of good, clean, drinking water, (and most of the people) but if you want to do any kind of agriculture you will have to look into water rights. If you buy an established place with a well already on it, make sure it comes with water rights. If you buy vacant land with no well on it get ready for a big hassle. In TX I think that if you own the land you own the water under it and can use all of it you want. That's why the Ogalala aquifer is going dry. Maybe it's changed, but for a long time there was no limit to the water that landowners could pump out of it. But in NM the state owns the water and controls the use of it via the State Engineer's office. They have an almost impossible (but very important) job of making sure the water, the source of all life here, is not polluted or over consumed, and that those who have rights to it have some protection from each other, and those who don't, other than warfare. Even with its complexity and messiness, I think it's a better system than TX where, as you say, the guy with the biggest pump wins. Here you can buy and sell water rights, but it's really a water privilege. You can use the water, and you can sell or buy water rights, but you don't really own it. And there are other claimants to the water down stream. The Indian reservations that the water flows thru have a claim on some of it. AZ and TX have claims on water the enters their states from NM. The laws are complicated and messy, and vary from one part of the state to another. Drilling a new well and buying water rights to attach to it is expensive and a bit miserable. This is why it's best to buy land with water rights already attached.

New Mexico And Water.... - Homesteading Questions

andrew3d · #5 01/11/15, 05:10 PM

If you want to raise a big garden and some animals, I'd look at Eastern OK or Arkansas.
Maybe I crossed a line, you said you loved New Mexico so I should not be offering other options.
But do follow the advice of that other poster about water rights. A homesteader cannot do much without plenty of good water.

InvalidID · #6 01/29/15, 05:05 PM

Yeah I've done a lot of research and talked to a lot of folks about water in NM. So far the answer seems to be win the lotto and you'll be fine.... So yeah, I suppose that's out for now.

am1too · #7 01/29/15, 07:01 PM

It ain't one itty bitty bit enchanting to me. I shall never return.

texican · #8 01/30/15, 09:49 PM

you can always buy land, 'with' water rights.... but realize up front, the water rights usually are going to be more valuable, than the land itself... and, you end up paying for it!

greenbean · #9 01/31/15, 02:46 PM

I love New Mexico too. "Water rights" are indeed the key if you want to farm.. Ill try to explain, anyone on the forum jump in if I am wrong, OK. Water rights, or "right to water",....NM stopped selling water rights years ago. If you want to buy water rights you need to buy them from someone who already owns them. These are transferable i.e. one property to another, and be prepared for paper work even then. Water rights are definitely more valuable than the desert land around them.
Beware! Make sure there is water under the ground before you buy. There are aquifers with good fossil water, but its deep unless you are close to a river, and expensive to drill. But there are also places where there no water if you drilled to Hades. Many a crooked sales made for dry useless land!
You must own 2 acres minimum to drill a well. To be used for household and a one acre garden. No more unless you have water rights, even if you own a million acres. And that acre can only be for your own consumption, no farmers market selling even.
many times the water engineers will even put a meter on your own well to check on your usage.
Most of this info I picked up on this very forum before I moved too NM! Saved me a lot of money.