The Water Data Act and the Water Security Planning Act

Editor’s note: Stacy Timmons prepared this paper for the January 2024 New Mexico Water Dialogue Annual Statewide Meeting information packet. Stacy is the New Mexico water scientist who oversees the hydrogeology programs as Associate Director of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources.

It’s republished here because funding is needed from the 2025 Legislature for the Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission to fulfill their legal mandates as owners of public water data named as Water Data Act Directing Agencies. The agencies have barely started the work required. It will take years are requires the agencies update their business processes. The work must start now; it will take years for state water data to be accurate, up-to-date, and publicly available online. The last paragraph is especially pertinent.

In today’s world, when decisions need to be made efficiently using the best available data, information, and scientific knowledge, we need quick access to a wide range of datasets – especially water. Water data are complex and multidimensional, often based on specific locations, but also representing moving features, such as streams and rivers, and features that change over time, like water quality and groundwater levels. Nationally, water data accessibility has lagged far behind many other data features.

Access to water data using sophisticated software and modern applications is not widely available to the multitude of water data stakeholders. The 2019 Water Data Act (NMSA 1978, §72-4B) set New Mexico as the 2nd state in the nation to pass legislation requiring accessible water data for management and planning. This statute established New Mexico as a leading state in developing modern data sharing and integration methods. Since this statute was enacted, the collective effort of the Water Data Initiative (convened by the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources) has worked to address many of the goals envisioned in the Water Data Act.

Collaborating agencies and data providers in New Mexico are working toward a federated data model and modern data sharing practices. In this model, data providers maintain control over and host their available data for public use. Presently, there are two main efforts for data sharing underway. Available through newmexicowaterdata.org – data providers are able to publicly share water datasets through a cloud-based, open-source data catalog. Additionally, large datasets are available using standardized application programming interfaces (APIs). Using the data catalog platform and APIs, dashboards and advanced visualizations are developed to help users better find, interpret, and access integrated datasets on key water data for New Mexico. We are excited to continue working to make more data available in 2024.

Language included in the Water Data Act specifically states that identifying key water data for water management and planning purposes is a priority. Data specified in the Water Data Act includes streamflow data, precipitation, reservoir and irrigation system operations, groundwater use and levels, municipal and industrial water and land uses, water rights, water diversions, water quality, fish, aquatic, and riparian systems data, and ecological data. The agencies named in the Water Data Act are the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (the convening agency), NM Interstate Stream Commission, NM Office of the State Engineer, NM Environment Department, and Energy Minerals and Natural Resource Department. In this collaborative effort, importantly, the Water Data Act also directs collaboration with regional and national data efforts.

As we learn together and work toward improving how we manage, share, and integrate our state’s water data – it’s important to consider specific uses of the data to help ensure the usability of the data. As we work through the development of rules and guidelines for the Strategic Water Planning process and as part of the process of planning our future with water in New Mexico, identifying data needs is key to moving this process forward. Developing a specific “use case” or questions that need to be addressed can help move progress on data integration forward. Once a use case is determined, the next step is to identify what data are needed. This is a key question – what water datasets are necessary for Strategic Water Planning? As that question is answered, it can be determined whether those data are digitally available and in compliance with data standards provided by the Water Data Initiative. The Water Data Initiative working groups can then help integrate these data for the next steps. The Water Data Initiative’s working groups and leadership at the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources are eager to hear about regionally relevant use cases and help with identifying and coordinating available data.

While there have been advancements in water data sharing for New Mexico, there are still challenges with the implementation of the Water Data Act. One of the big challenges in moving to modern, digital data is that the workflow for some key data still includes manual methods of collection and using paper or PDF records in unstructured formats. The biggest challenge, however, is related to funding at the state’s agencies that collect or provide water data. Most agencies lack the staff and/or resources to accomplish advancements/improvements in their water data management and sharing practices. Additionally, some of our state’s most important water data is collected by non-state agencies that may share data in a variety of unstructured formats, paper data, or lacking key metadata. These challenges have made progress slow. Incremental advancements, however, have been made and the path forward for the Water Data Act is coming into clear focus.