About the BDD
The Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) Project will improve the regional water supply under drought conditions, replace current groundwater pumping that cannot be sustained, and make a drought reserve possible.
What It Is
The BDD Project:
- Is a regional sustainable water supply project co-owned by the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County
- Diverts (pumps) water from the Rio Grande northwest of Santa Fe, near the historical Buckman townsite
- Provides advanced drinking water treatment that will produce high quality drinking water at a new water treatment plant located near the Municipal Recreational Complex
- Includes a diversion structure on the Rio Grande; a sediment settling facility; two raw water booster stations; two treated water pump stations; and 25 miles of raw and finished water pipelines
- Is one of the largest, most complex and most costly non-federal infrastructure projects ever built in Santa Fe County
BDD Project Map
Why We Need the BDD Now
Despite ongoing, very successful water conservation programs, the Santa Fe region does not have enough drinking water to meet our current needs. Our three current sources of water are:
1) City well field;
2) Buckman well field; and
3) The Canyon Road water treatment plant, which treats water from the Santa Fe River reservoirs.
Currently, we are overpumping the groundwater wells resulting in damage to the underground aquifer. Even in the best of years, the Santa Fe River reservoirs can only supply about half of the water our region needs. In very dry years, they cannot supply much water at all and emergency water restrictions have to be put in place.
In addition, our water supply could be dramatically reduced by circumstances beyond our control such as a prolonged drought or a fire in the watershed.
Another Source of Sustainable and Reliable Drinking Water
The BDD Project provides a fourth source of water, improving the regional water supply under drought conditions, replacing current groundwater pumping that cannot be sustained, and making a drought reserve possible.
The City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County are constructing the BDD Project to add this source of water by diverting and treating water available from the Rio Grande that we already own but cannot access through groundwater pumping. The BDD Project will create the infrastructure required to fully use the City and County permanent yearly supply of the San Juan-Chama Project water, which is about half of the Santa Fe community’s current total annual water use. The BDD Project also will access native Rio Grande water rights owned by the County and Las Campanas.
The surface water is renewable. It will allow major reductions in groundwater pumping, thereby reserving the aquifer for use in times of drought, rather than for our daily supplies. This provides a much more sustainable, renewable and drought- resistant water supply system for the entire Santa Fe community. It also fills a water supply gap identified in the Jemez y Sangre Regional Water Plan.