Albuquerque Area Office

The Albuquerque Area Office is one of the largest in Reclamation reaching from the Alamosa area of southern Colorado through most of New Mexico and into west Texas. Staff here manage delivery of water on the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, Pecos, and Canadian rivers from the main office in Albuquerque and six field offices in Alamosa, Colorado; Alamogordo, Chama, Elephant Butte, and Socorro, New Mexico; and El Paso, Texas. This office is also responsible for overseeing the management of nine major dams with a combined reservoir storage capacity of more than 3.5 million acre-feet that supply water for more than 439,000 acres of irrigated land and several municipal drinking water projects. They also oversee hydropower production at Elephant Butte Dam, and research and testing at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination and Research Facility.

News and Highlights

  • News Release – November 4, 2019

    The Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility.Reclamation awards nearly $1 million for water purification and desalination pilot projects
    Goals are to reduce costs, energy requirements, environmental impact for treating unusable water

    DENVER – The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded nearly $1 million for projects under an innovative pilot-scale water treatment technologies and desalination program. The selected projects will receive funding through cooperative agreements and will include a period of pilot testing at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and other sites across the country. Read More 

  • News Release – September 17, 2019

    Commissioner Burman at PBRWS ROD ceremony Pojoaque Basin regional water system moves toward construction

    The Bureau of Reclamation is one step closer to constructing a water system to bring safe, reliable drinking water to four Pueblos and parts of Santa Fe County under the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Agreement. Today, Reclamation’s Commissioner Brenda Burman joined settlement parties to sign an agreement that renegotiated cost shares and cost savings measures in the project. Read More 

  • News Advisory – September 12, 2019

    Reclamation crews work to improve Rio Grande flows to Elephant Butte Reservoir

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Bureau of Reclamation construction crews are working to realign a portion of the Rio Grande around a sediment plug that has formed within the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This construction work will ensure that water is effectively delivered to Elephant Butte Reservoir. Read More 

  • News Advisory – August 27, 2019

    Finalists compete in Reclamation contest to identify and develop water treatment technology

    ALAMOGORDO, NM – The Bureau of Reclamation is hosting a Pitch-to-Pilot event to fund innovative water treatment technologies for enhancing freshwater supplies in the United States. This event is designed to identify and fund development of desalination and water treatment technologies and processes. Reclamation invites the public to attend and vote for one of ten finalists. The public portion of the competition will take place at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on August 29. Read More 

  • Features – April 2, 2019

    To support learning and education in the Alamogordo, New Mexico, area the Bureau of Reclamation's Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility hosted 545 students at the Fourth Annual Discovering Desal event. The students visited the facility from March 4-12 and came from the Alamogordo Public School System, two private schools and a local homeschooling group. Read More 

Environmental Planning Current Focus

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Last Updated: 1/14/20