New Mexico's physical features do affect where and how people live. Other conditions have an effect as well. In new Mexico water is the key factor. Where people can live in New Mexico depends largely on the supply of water.

New Mexico is a large state and has little water. It's surface water area is only about 250 square miles. Surface water is water on top of the earth's surface. New Mexico's average precipitation rate is only 15 inches a year.

Not all parts of the state receive equal rainfall. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the northern part of the state receive more than 40 inches of moisture a year. So, mountains elsewhere in the state have a higher than average rainfall. The plateau and plains areas are average in rainfall. They receive between 12 and 17 inches of moisture a year.

The rainfall is below average in the southwestern, central, and south-central parts of the state, except for the mountains, of course. Here are the driest areas. Some of these low areas receive fewer than 10 inches of rainfall yearly. These low areas include the broad, dry basins of the basin and range province. Some of these low-lying areas are nearly true deserts.

New Mexico's rainfall is useful. It is not just the amount of rainfall that determines where and how people can live. When the rainfall occurs is also important. New Mexicans are fortunate that they receive about three-fourths of their rainfall between June and September which is the growing season.

The remainder of the moisture comes mostly during the winter. Snow falls in the mountains and higher elevations, while rainfalls in the lower elevations. The snow in the mountains then melts in the spring and flows into the streams and rivers. The rivers bring water to people. They allow people to live where it might otherwise be too dry for a group of people. Rivers have always supplied needed water. New Mexico's rivers have been no exception.

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