New Mexico
Regional Water Planning

State Water Planning and Regional Water Planning are complementary processes that ensure New Mexico addresses both external legal obligations and internal water supply challenges — strategically and locally.

State Water Planning, required under the 2003 State Water Plan Act, focuses on water challenges that originate outside New Mexico and establishes the statewide policy framework for long-term water management. It is fundamentally tied to interstate compact compliance and addresses external drivers such as climate change, federal law, and Indian water rights settlements. Its focus is statewide: protecting water rights, guiding policy direction, and ensuring New Mexico meets its legal obligations.

Regional Water Planning, first established in 1987, focuses on water challenges that originate within New Mexico — centering regional and local supply needs, infrastructure gaps, drought impacts, and funding priorities. It translates statewide policy into practical, basin-level strategies developed with local governments, utilities, irrigation districts, acequias, and water systems.

Following passage of the 2023 Water Security Planning Act, the Interstate Stream Commission restructured regional planning to better equip communities facing projected water shortages.