A Public-Private Partnership Targets Water Leaks

New Mexico is using satellite intelligence to spot hidden water leaks fast, helping utilities cut losses, plan repairs, and modernize aging systems

16 Dec 2025

Water is precious in New Mexico, yet much of it disappears underground. For decades leaks in ageing pipes have quietly drained drinking-water systems across the state. Now officials are trying something new: they are searching for lost water from space.

The New Mexico Environment Department has launched a multi-year programme that uses satellite imagery to detect leaks in buried pipes. Instead of dispatching crews to walk long stretches of network, or waiting for pipes to burst, utilities can scan entire systems at once. Early surveys have already found leaks costing hundreds of thousands of gallons a day.

The technology comes from ASTERRA, a firm that analyses satellite data to spot small changes in soil moisture. These can signal water escaping below ground. The appeal is speed and scale. Large service areas can be assessed in weeks rather than months, including remote or hard-to-reach places. That matters most for small and rural utilities, which often lack staff and money for labour-intensive inspections.

Finding leaks is only half the task. Turning data into repairs falls partly to McKim and Creed, an engineering firm that helps utilities verify the satellite findings and plan fixes. This link between analysis and action is meant to ensure the programme delivers results, not just attractive maps. State officials say the wider aim is to shift utilities towards more proactive, data-driven management.

Observers see the effort as part of a national trend. Across America water utilities face old pipes, tight budgets and rising pressure to cut losses. Statewide schemes can spread costs, speed up adoption of new tools and set shared standards that individual utilities might struggle to create alone.

The obstacles are obvious. Detecting a leak does not pay to mend it, and replacing pipes is expensive. Yet in a state where scarcity shapes daily life, even modest gains matter. By treating water loss as a strategic problem rather than an inevitable one, New Mexico is offering a practical model. Others in the water sector will be watching closely.