Water woes are ever-present in the Southwest, with rising temperatures and persistent drought conditions. Albuquerque, for instance, is in a moderate to severe drought this summer.
With that in mind, City Desk ABQ contacted the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority to find out who uses the most water.
Below is a list of the top 10 public and private water users and how many gallons of water they used in 2023 and 2022.
While some organizations used less water in 2023 than the year before, others are using more — including the city’s top irrigator, the private Tanoan Country Club.
Most of the public water users are parks around the city, but according to the Parks and Recreation Department, they have reduced the amount of water they use by 100 million gallons over the past three years.
Read more about the department’s efforts to reduce water usage here.
Private
- Tanoan Country Club
2023: 239,995,052
2022: 161,745,276
- Paradise Hills Golf Course
2023: 130,125,072
2022: 93,624,916
- Sumco Phoenix Corp.
2023: 88,313,368
2022: 93,301,780
- Albuquerque Academy
2023: 64,313,040
2022: 57,674,540 (2022)
- Vista Del Sol Mobile Home Park
2023: 56,159,092
2022: 56,369,280
- General Mills Inc
2023: 54,366,884
2022: 50,276,072
- Creamland Dairy Inc.
2023: 47,275,096
2022: 44,592,768
- Towne Park ABQ Clubhouse
2023: 46,321,396
2022: 45,814,252
- Bueno Foods
2023: 45,310,848
2022: 37,082,848
- Presbyterian Hospital
2023: 37,765,024
2022: 40,346,372
Public
- Arroyo del Oso Golf Course
2023: 233,358,048
2022: 186,650,684
- Balloon Fiesta Park
2023: 98,732,260
2022: 103,301,792
- Puerto del Sol Golf Course
2023: 94,121,588
2022: 85,274,992
- ABQ BioPark
2023: 45,176,956
2022: 65,212,884
- University of New Mexico Hospital
2023: 39,363,500
2022: 41,802,728
- University of New Mexico Physical Plant
2023: 34,660,824
2022: 31,801,968
- Expo New Mexico
2023: 32,597,092
2022: 32,841,688
- USS Bullhead Memorial Park
2023: 27,512,936
2022: 24,914,384
- North Domingo Baca Park
2023: 26,025,912
2022: 21,873,016
- Central New Mexico Community College
2023: 22,199,892
2022: 24,306,260
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to distinguish between the Tanoan Country Club and the gated community and to correct the ranking of Paradise Hills Golf Course.
Elizabeth, good reporting. Tough field to major in. My daughter is an environmental jounalist in Georgia.
Thank you for this story. What percentage of New Mexico’s population plays golf? What percentage of New Mexico’s water goes to golf courses?
How can Paradise Hills GC be both #3 and #7 on your private list? And with different water figures. Should we question other figures? Are stories proofread/edited?
Why do you have different figures for Private No. 3 Parafise Hills and No. 7 also Paradise Hills for the same years? This is the same private course. Which is correct?
Interesting. Do these accounts pay a Conservation Surcharge like our residential users do?
Seems to me that the city of Albuquerque should be on this list too.