2013 has the potential here in New Mexico to be a great laboratory for exploring the question of specifically where and when water supply shortages actually play out during a drought year. I took a crack in this morning’s paper at setting up the problem, highlighting what I see as the four key New Meixco drought trouble spots:

“The potential exists out there for a zero-release year.”

That’s Phil King, a water resources professor at New Mexico State University and adviser to the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. The district provides water released from Elephant Butte Reservoir to farmers in Doña Ana County. Dollar for dollar, Doña Ana is the state’s most agriculturally productive county. But in the past couple of years, there hasn’t been much water to provide.