Water for Rivers, Power for Data: Inside New Mexico’s Budget Push as Project Jupiter Looms

New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session secured millions for river restoration and water management, Audubon Southwest reports. Lawmakers concluded the 30-day session Feb. 19, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the budget March 11, sealing in what the group called crucial funding for water.

The budget includes $13 million for the River Stewardship Program and $10 million for the Strategic Water Reserve, both historically underfunded, according to Audubon. The River Stewardship Program, under the state Environment Department, funds the rebuilding of ecosystems along rivers and streams; it gets about $2 million a year from the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund and has historically received only a few million dollars a year from lawmakers. The Strategic Water Reserve, managed by the Interstate Stream Commission, lets the state buy and lease water rights to keep rivers flowing.

Audubon Southwest says roughly 8 in 10 of New Mexico’s at-risk bird species depend on riparian habitat, making river restoration a biodiversity issue as well as an ecological one.

Meanwhile, New Mexico’s appeal as a data center hub is growing. Data centers, particularly those supporting artificial intelligence and cloud computing, are known for massive electricity demand and significant water use, and Project Jupiter, still in development, may become a defining test of whether the state can balance ecological restoration and industrial growth.

Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit Audubon Southwest’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.