Mapping Suitability for Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Albuquerque Basin - Open-file Report 605

The suitability for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in the eastern Albuquerque metropolitan area was mapped using weighted overlay analyses. The study area extends from the Rio Grande eastward to the Sandia Mountains and from Sandia Pueblo southward to ~1 mi (~2 km) south of Tijeras Arroyo. This area is under the jurisdiction of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA), which will likely be the main user of this work.

We produced two maps for MAR suitability, each with a grid cell resolution of 100 x 100 m: one showing the suitability for deep-injection recharge (i.e., pumping water directly into the saturated zone) and the other for shallow recharge (by infiltration or vadose- zone injection). These maps depict three color-coded suitability bins—low suitability, moderate suitability, and high suitability—as well as exclusionary zones. A third map predicts the susceptibility of different areas to soil hydrocompaction, a potential adverse consequence of infiltrating surface water into certain types of previously unsaturated soils.