Each year, power plants in the United States collectively kick out enough coal combustion waste (CCW) to fill a train of coal cars stretching from Manhattan to Los Angeles and back three and a half

The Albuquerque city-county water utility is investigating the effectiveness of recharging the aquifer by dumping river water into an arroyo, where it will seep into the ground naturally.

The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is trying to recharge the aquifer beneath Albuquerque. A small research project will examine how the area can take advantage of extra water that can be saved for the future. The $985,000 project, will divert water from the Rio Grande into an arroyo, where it will seep into the ground. The study will begin this fall and will use about 1,000 acre-feet of river water. The project will determine how long it takes the water to reach the aquifer and how much of it gets there. Eventually, the city wants to take river water, already purified to drinking standards, and inject it straight into the aquifer through wells.