Modernizing water management in New Mexico through agile water data infrastructure

This case study was created as part of a series for Apolitical’s 50 States, 50 Breakthroughs, created in collaboration with the National Academy of Public Administration and Humans of Public Service.

New Mexico is modernizing how water data is found, shared, and used across the state. Through the New Mexico Water Data Initiative, agencies are tackling a long-standing challenge: critical water information exists across many systems and formats but has often been difficult to access, combine, and prepare for real-world decisions.

By investing in data availability, literacy, and integration, the initiative is helping researchers, water managers, and decision-makers spend less time searching for and harmonizing datasets and more time planning for a future where groundwater will matter even more as conditions grow drier.

The Problem

New Mexico, like many states in the southwestern United States, is experiencing the effects of a drying climate. The state already has limited surface water, and as snowpack continues to shrink, reliance on groundwater will only grow.

Understanding the extent of groundwater resources is critical. As surface water becomes less reliable, groundwater will play an increasingly important role in supplying water for communities, agriculture, and ecosystems across the state. Making informed decisions about water resources requires reliable data—but for many years, accessing that data was itself a major challenge.

The information existed. Water level readings were being collected by federal agencies like the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state and regional bodies, and local municipalities. But the data lived in many different places and formats. Some agencies had digital records; others had PDFs. Some still relied on paper files that had never been digitized. Much of the information was not machine-readable.

Even when researchers could locate the data they needed, the real work was only beginning. Each dataset had to be cleaned and reformatted before it could be used alongside others. Without shared systems or standards, researchers repeatedly performed the same preparation work independently. A significant amount of time and effort went into tasks that had already been solved somewhere else by someone else.

The Water Data Act

New Mexico’s Water Data Act was passed in 2019. It is a relatively short law—deliberately so. While it sets out clear requirements, it leaves room for agencies to determine how best to meet them. One requirement was the creation of a statewide water information platform. That mandate became the foundation for the work that continues today.

The New Mexico Water Data Initiative was established to implement the Act. Its mission is straightforward: make water data across the state easier to find, share, and use.

The initiative is led by four directing agencies: the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (Bureau of Geology), the New Mexico Environment Department, the Interstate Stream Commission and Office of the State Engineer, and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The Bureau of Geology serves as the convening agency, coordinating collaboration across the group.

The Water Data Initiative

A snapshot of the Water Data Integration Engine

One of the initiative’s first major steps was building a statewide data catalog. The catalog serves both as a repository and a discovery hub. Agencies that do not have their own way to publish data can upload datasets directly, while the catalog also helps users locate information that already exists across many systems. For many users, it has become the starting point for finding water data in New Mexico.

Making data easier to find was an important first step, but it was only part of the challenge. Data professionals often describe four qualities that make data truly useful: findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). The catalog made meaningful progress on the first two. Achieving interoperability—making data from different sources work together—is a more complex task.

To address the interoperability problem, agencies across New Mexico have increasingly begun publishing data through application programming interfaces (APIs)—which allow different software applications to communicate—and online services. That progress means more data is accessible than ever before. However, researchers who need information from multiple sources often still have to visit several platforms, download datasets individually, and reconcile different formats before analysis can begin.

To address this challenge, the Bureau of Geology is developing a tool called the Data Integration Engine, a free Python tool designed to simplify data retrieval. When a user runs a query, the tool simultaneously connects to multiple data services—from local sources to federal agencies—and returns the results in a unified format.

The goal is to make data that once required hours of manual collection and harmonization retrievable in a single step. The tool is still a proof of concept, but early users are already finding it valuable for compiling water level and water quality datasets.

What’s Changed?

One of the most significant impacts of the initiative has not been a specific tool or dataset, but a shift in how agencies think about data.

Before the Water Data Act, “data availability” often meant that information existed somewhere—perhaps in a spreadsheet or posted on a website. What was less frequently considered was whether someone outside the agency could easily find that data, download it in a usable format, or combine it with other datasets.

Five years later, that conversation has changed substantially. Agencies across New Mexico are now discussing APIs, data services, and how to design systems that others can connect to. These were not common conversations before the initiative began.

Rachel Hobbs, Water Data Program Manager at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, recalls a moment that illustrates this shift. At one of the initiative’s annual workshops—where agencies demonstrate the tools and services they have developed—a representative from the New Mexico Environment Department explored a tool called GeoConnex Explorer, built by the Internet of Water.

The platform combines water data from multiple sources—including the EPA, USGS, and Bureau of Geology—into a single map interface. As the representative explored the tool, she discovered her own agency’s data displayed alongside other datasets.

Her department had been uploading water quality information to the EPA’s Water Quality Portal for years, but she had never seen how that data could be discovered or used alongside other sources.

For Hobbs, it was one of the moments that makes the work feel worthwhile. The workshop provided a platform for people to interact with and discover tools and applications for finding data from around the state. “This NMED employee was saying they upload this data to the EPA’s Water Quality Portal and don’t know what happens to it after that, or if anyone’s using it,” she said. “But here they can see it. And not only that, they can see it side by side with data from other agencies.”

“That really stuck with me,” she said. “It made me feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

Challenges

The Water Data Act was signed into law as an unfunded mandate, and seven years later, funding remains the initiative’s central challenge. Funding has improved over time. Water issues enjoy bipartisan support in New Mexico, and the state legislature has steadily increased investment across the directing agencies. Even so, sustained funding remains essential to fully implement the goals of the Water Data Act and expand the infrastructure needed to make water data accessible and usable across the state.

Staffing is closely tied to this challenge. When agencies have personnel dedicated to implementing the Water Data Act, progress accelerates. When staff must fit this work around existing responsibilities, progress naturally slows.

Another challenge is the scale of modernization required. New Mexico does not lack water data; the challenge is that much of it still needs to be standardized, digitized, and integrated.

Hobbs compares the effort to redesigning a library—not simply building a new one and moving the books in, but deciding where every book belongs and how the entire system should work. “You have to look at every book and say, okay, now where does this go?” she says. “That takes time, money, and expertise at the agency level.”

You have to look at every book and say, okay, now where does this go? That takes time, money, and expertise at the agency level.

Digitizing historical records adds another layer of complexity. Scanning paper documents is only the first step; reviewing, organizing, and tagging those records so they can be discovered and used requires significant human effort.

Despite these challenges, the initiative’s annual workshops consistently demonstrate the enthusiasm that exists across the state for improving water data access.

Advice for Other Governments

The New Mexico experience offers several lessons for governments interested in improving water data systems.

First, pass a law.

A legislative mandate helps sustain progress even when priorities shift and provides a clear reason for agencies to continue investing in the work.

Second, think carefully about leadership.

In New Mexico, the Bureau of Geology has served effectively as the convening agency, in part because it does not have a regulatory role. As a research and service division of a state university, it can focus on coordination and implementation in ways that regulatory agencies often cannot.

A convening organization that is seen as a collaborative partner rather than an authority tends to build stronger relationships across agencies.

Third, resist the urge to centralize everything.

A common assumption is that data initiatives require pulling all data into a single system. New Mexico has taken a different approach. Agencies maintain control of their own data. The goal is not to create a single database, but to support a shared commitment to making data easier to find, access, and use.

“We want agencies to maintain control over their own data,” Hobbs says. “They’re the ones who know it best, and they’re responsible for maintaining its quality.”

This approach avoids many of the governance and quality challenges associated with centralization while keeping the agencies that produce data invested in maintaining it.

We want agencies to maintain control over their own data. They’re the ones who know it best, and they’re responsible for maintaining its quality

Looking Ahead

Seven years in, the work is far from finished. But the foundation is in place, momentum is growing, and agencies and researchers across the state are beginning to use the tools and infrastructure that have been developed.

With sustained investment and continued collaboration, the New Mexico Water Data Initiative aims to expand access to water data and support better decisions about one of the state’s most critical resources.