Albuquerque’s tap water is safe to drink and consistently meets or exceeds all federal safety standards for public water systems. The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) manages the quality of the water supply, handling collection, treatment, and distribution throughout the service area. This public utility works under stringent regulations to ensure the water delivered to homes is potable. While the water is safe, it is never entirely free of contaminants, which is true for every municipal water system. The safety verdict is based on comprehensive monitoring and treatment processes designed to protect public health, making the water a reliable daily source.
Where Albuquerque Gets Its Water
Albuquerque utilizes a dual-source water supply system, combining surface water with groundwater to meet the city’s demands. Groundwater is drawn from the Santa Fe Group aquifer, a large underground reservoir that historically served as the primary source of supply. This aquifer, which is part of the broader Rio Grande aquifer system, provides water that is typically cleaner at the source but is being depleted more quickly than it can naturally recharge.
The second major source is surface water, secured through the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project. This project diverts water from tributaries of the San Juan River across the Continental Divide into the Rio Grande system. This imported water is treated at a dedicated surface water treatment plant before being blended with the groundwater supply. The blending of these two sources is a deliberate strategy to manage water resources and protect the long-term sustainability of the local groundwater.
Groundwater typically requires minimal treatment, primarily disinfection through chlorination, though some wells need additional filtering. Surface water, however, requires more extensive purification processes before distribution. The operational balance between these two sources can shift seasonally or based on conservation strategies, but the final product is a blend delivered through the distribution system.
Regulatory Oversight and Quality Assurance
The safety of Albuquerque’s drinking water is founded on a robust framework of governmental regulation and local monitoring efforts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes national health-based standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This act mandates limits for over 90 contaminants in public water supplies, covering both naturally occurring and man-made substances.
Direct state-level oversight is provided by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), which enforces the SDWA regulations within the state. The NMED’s Drinking Water Bureau ensures that public water systems meet all compliance requirements through monitoring, technical assistance, and enforcement actions. This state-federal partnership establishes the legal obligation for water quality and public health protection.
To ensure continuous compliance, the ABCWUA performs rigorous quality assurance, collecting and testing more than 5,500 water samples annually from various points in the system. This monitoring program tracks over 180 substances, often going beyond the minimum requirements set by regulators. The results of this comprehensive testing are made public each year in the annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), which details the previous year’s water quality data.
Localized Concerns and Infrastructure Risks
Despite the overall safety of the municipal supply, consumers may experience localized issues related to the water’s inherent characteristics and home plumbing. Albuquerque’s water is notably hard, typically measuring around 8 to 10 grains per gallon, due to a high concentration of dissolved minerals. While hard water is safe to drink, it can cause mineral scale buildup in appliances, fixtures, and pipes, reducing efficiency and lifespan.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element of concern, present in the local geology and found in the groundwater aquifer. The ABCWUA mitigates this risk through treatment processes, ensuring the water remains below the EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion. The system’s use of surface water for blending also assists in lowering the final concentration of this contaminant.
The most significant localized risk stems from private plumbing infrastructure, not the public distribution system. Although the city’s main water lines do not contain lead, older homes may have lead service lines or internal fixtures and solder that can leach lead and copper into the tap water. Homes built between 1982 and 1987 are considered at a higher risk for this issue. Residents can mitigate this risk by flushing the tap for a short period before using the water, or they can request free water testing services from the ABCWUA.