ABSTRACT
The Albuquerque-Belen groundwater basin [URL Ref. No. 55, 339 { 12-13)], located in central New Mexico, is dependent on ground and surface waters for irrigation and municipal use [U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.), 19881 [URL Ref. No. 531. The general area also encompasses two of the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories. These include the Sandia National Laboratory [URL Ref. No. 731 and the Los Alamos National Laboratory [URL Ref. No. 971. The City of Albuquerque [URL Ref. No. 3271 and Bernalillo County [URL Ref. No. 891 are part of the AlbuquerqueBelen basin. The geochemistry [URL Ref. No. 3141 of groundwater in the basin has been studied by the U.S.G.S. as part of the Southwest Alluvial Basins Regional AquiferSystems Analysis (U.S. Geological Survey, 1988). The purpose of the U.S.G.S. study was to define the area1 distribution of different water qualities, to define the groundwater flow system, and to determine groundwater quality in the Albuquerque-Belen basin.
