Digital model for simulated effects of ground-water pumping in the Hueco Bolson, El Paso Area, Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico
The Hueco Bolson provides a substantial part of the municipal and industrial water supply of the El Paso area of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Although the supply 6f fresh ground water in the bolson is large, about 10.6 million acre-feet (13,070 hm 3 ) in 1973 in the Texas part of the bolson alone, the supply is being depleted. A two-layer digital model of the Hueco Bolson was developed to duplicate the historic changes in water levels and the predevelopment (1903) water surface, and'to predict the response of the hydrologic system to any plan of water development. The model study showed that a proposed plan of development for 1973-91, in which pumping would be increased by 29 percent in the Texas part of the bolson and by 34 percent in Ciudad Juarez, would cause additional waterlevel declines of as much as 45 feet (13.7 m) in the vicinity of El Paso and 70 feet (21.3 m) in Ciudad Juarez. The study also showed that nearly 60 percent of the water would come from storage in the water-table part of the bolson aquifer (model layer 2) and 28 percent from leakage from the alluvium (model layer 1). By the end of the period, 9.84 million acrefeet (12,133 hm 3 ) of fresh water would be in storage in the Texas part of the bolson, as compared to 10.6 million acre-feet (13,070 hm 3 ) in storage in 1973.