Clean, reliable water for every New Mexican.
Our Water Initiative invests in research, civic engagement and collective action to build the resilience of water systems across the state.
Secure water across New Mexico: universal access to clean, reliable water, healthy rivers and aquifers, and communities from cities to tribes to farms that flourish. It takes water allocated equitably and governed in a way that is well-informed, democratic and fair.
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A resilient water future for New Mexico.
New Mexico's water future depends on the choices we make now.
The state's water challenges are not separate problems to be solved one at a time. They are interconnected, and meeting them requires changes to how New Mexico governs, funds and understands its water.
A century-old governance framework
New Mexico's water code was established in the early 1900s and, while it has been amended many times, the state's governance framework is not keeping up with the reality of climate and hydrologic change. Meeting today's challenges requires governance improvements that reflect the current reality of the 21st century — improvements that can secure New Mexico's water future.
Misconceptions about the state's available water supply
The connection between the availability of water and the actual strain placed on water resources is invisible to most of the public. Misconceptions contribute to the imbalance in water consumption, management and distribution. The state must pair awareness with aggressive structural reform to create a shift.
Fragmented systems
Fragmented agencies, governance frameworks, funding and infrastructure undermine water security. New Mexico must transform isolated systems into a unified, holistic framework to address the state's water challenges.
Inequity in capacity, resources and political power
Inequity in capacity, resources and political power exacerbates water disparities in the state. Effectively addressing New Mexico's water challenges requires investment in under-resourced communities to close the gap.
Availability of and access to knowledge, values and data
One of the most important challenges in managing water in New Mexico is a lack of basic information that hinders decision-making. The state must invest in information infrastructure to ensure New Mexico has the best information available to act immediately, while working toward the information necessary to support long-term water planning and management.
Four connected strategies.
The Foundation invests in modernized governance, unified systems and equitable capacity to strengthen how New Mexico manages its water.
Improving New Mexico's Water Governance
New Mexico's water governance framework was primarily established in the early 1900s. This strategy supports transforming the state's policy, laws, rules, planning and science so its water management system is better equipped to meet changing water scarcity challenges.
Building Water Resilience in the Most Populous and Vulnerable Basins
New Mexico's waters are already overallocated, and climate change is exacerbating water stress. This strategy supports innovative, practical water resilience projects within the state's most populous and vulnerable basins to bring river basins and aquifers into balance.
Growing Capacity, Resources and Alignment
Addressing New Mexico's water challenges requires broad and deep engagement with the state's diverse water stakeholders. This strategy supports greater capacity, resources, alignment and equity for systemically excluded communities.
Grounding Decisions in Sound, Comprehensive Science
Knowledge, values and data provide the foundation for water planning and management. This strategy supports robust water research, data and tools to ensure water security.
Unprecedented state investment in water
Our grantees' policy analysis and advocacy contributed to the Legislature approving some of the most consequential water investments in state history — more than $300 million total, including $200+ million for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, $20 million for watershed restoration, $7.5 million for aquifer mapping and monitoring, $5 million for the Agricultural Water Resilience Pilot Program and $2 million to implement the Water Data Act.
Nation-leading protection for New Mexico's waters
Signed into law in April 2025, Senate Bill 21 establishes a state-led surface water quality permitting program — championed by several Foundation partners — protecting up to 95% of the state's waterways and 88% of wetlands after they lost federal Clean Water Act protection. Other states now look to New Mexico for lessons in restoring critical protections.
Filling the data gap
The Groundwater Alliance, a new public-private coalition supported by the Foundation, published the first statewide assessment of groundwater in New Mexico in January 2026, with actionable policy recommendations for sustaining this declining resource.
Featured Projects
Trees Water PeopleTrees, Water & People
Restoring Land, Restoring Trust: Elevating Tribal-Led Conservation in the Jemez MountainsWorking with the Pueblos of Jemez, Cochiti and Santo Domingo to improve watershed systems through tribal-led conservation.
Visit Trees, Water & People ↗
Thornburg FoundationEnvironmental Policy Innovation Center
Scaling Watershed Restoration Across the Upper Rio GrandeCombining watershed restoration with workforce development, engaging youth and tribal communities across the Upper Rio Grande.
Visit Environmental Policy Innovation Center ↗
Katharine FlyOgallala Land & Water Conservancy
Water Conservation and Rural Capacity in Eastern New MexicoA community-led effort to address water insecurity in the Ogallala Aquifer — a priority basin for the initiative — by establishing permanent groundwater conservation easements that conserve water for future generations while sustaining agriculture and protecting grassland habitat.
Visit Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy ↗