Statewide Water Management in the 21st Century: NASA and the State of New Mexico

As water resources come under increasing pressure, water management necessitates increasingly accurate, timely, and available data, especially for water use (evapotranspiration) and demand. NASA has cutting-edge capabilities for providing these data. Here, we describe how NASA data are advancing water management for the State of New Mexico. Specifically, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is working with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMOSE) and State and Federal partners to improve analysis and decision-making throughout the state for water management, river basin monitoring, forest management, and climate modeling, targeting key areas including water rights transfer review, priority administration, active water resource management, fire risk, forest water storage, endangered species, and assurance of compact delivery to neighboring states.