1. Water Quality Opening Remarks Dr. Karl Wood, Director Water Resources Research Institute 2006 New Mexico Water Research Symposium August 15, 2006 Socorro, New Mexico

2. Water Supply Quite visible Easy to measure Easy to say if too much or too little

3. Water Quality May not be visible Visibility may be deceiving Often difficult to measure Difficult to say if too much or too little

4. Water quality is often poorest when the runoff is lowest When runoff (supply) is low, then quality is of lesser concern

5. Present Initiatives Water Supply Water Quality ManyFewer Growing population Mined groundwater Exhausted surface storage Drought suppressing surface and groundwater recharge Clean Water Act Health Concerns Arsenic Standards Perchlorate, MTBE, & sulfate levels

6. For any given response variable such as: Sediment Load Total Dissolved Solids Stream Temperature Arsenic Content etc. Questions should be asked: 1. What are the natural levels with variations between hours, days, months, and years? 2. What are the sources of these natural levels? 3. How much of the total at any one time is due to human influences? 4. What are the sources of the human induced levels?

7. 5. What are maximum potential levels? 6. What are the tolerable levels for sustainability? 7. What are the desirable levels? 8. Are the desirable levels achievable with present technology, time, legal, political, and economic constraints? Also should be asked:

8. Please enjoy today’s symposium!