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505 Outside

505 Outside is brought to you by The Water Conservation Department of The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (Water Authority). The Water Authority provides water and wastewater services to the greater Albuquerque metropolitan area.

An Evolving Conservation Program

Water conservation has proven to be a successful tool for managing our water resources. The Water Authority and its predecessor, the City of Albuquerque, have made significant progress in water conservation.

Current water usage is as low as it was in 1983, despite experiencing a 25% increase in population. We have gone from among the highest municipal water users in the Southwest to among the lowest. The Water Authority is proud of the progress the public has made in reducing our daily water use over these last twenty-one years.

The Future 

The Water Authority now supplies about 98,000 acre-feet/year of water to more than 676,000 customers in the metropolitan area.

Our current daily water usage is about 125 GPCD (gallons per capita daily).  The new goal is to reduce that to 110 GPCD by 2037. Achievement of the goal is key to making our community resilient in the face of future water resource management challenges. As the climate changes, the demand for outdoor water use will increase. To reach this goal, the Water Authority will be focusing on outdoor (consumptive use) savings over indoor (non-consumptive use) savings.

Our newest resource management strategy is called WATER 2120.  It’s a 100-year water plan that explores a number of supply alternatives while considering various scenarios of climate change and population growth. Learn more here.