In this week’s Western Water weekly news roundup, New Mexico Congressman Gabe Vasquez is accusing the federal government of stealing groundwater for border wall construction — and now the New Mexico State Engineer has taken enforcement action over unauthorized wells. It raises a much bigger water question: When a federal project needs water, who gets to decide where that water comes from?
This week on Western Water Weekly, we also look at a controversial data center proposal that could shift water away from farmland, new research showing permanent damage to a California aquifer, invasive golden mussels threatening water infrastructure, cybersecurity risks, new water-reuse technology — and Lake Mead falling to its lowest recorded elevation since the reservoir was filled.
