A New Mexico town is running dry. An immigration detention center is its biggest water customer.

The small town of Estancia, New Mexico, declared a water emergency after years of drought left its wells running dry. The town is now trucking in water to keep its pipes filled and has cut back water sales to its largest commercial customer, the Torrance County Detention Facility, a federal immigration detention center run by the private company CoreCivic. The facility has also started trucking in its own water. CoreCivic says the shortage hasn't affected operations and that drinking water remains available to those detained there.

The crisis has caused turmoil in town leadership. Estancia's mayor has taken a leave of absence and stopped attending meetings, prompting the town's trustees to pass a vote of no confidence against him. State funding has been secured to drill a new well, and the town plans to open a 30-day bidding process this month to get that work started. In the meantime, officials have banned private fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend because of fire risk during the drought, though the town's own fireworks show will go on.

The underlying problem is bigger than one dry summer. Groundwater levels in the Estancia Basin aquifer have dropped for years due to overpumping, and the state has already closed the basin to new water rights. With New Mexico in severe drought and climate change expected to further reduce groundwater supplies, officials warn the strain on the aquifer will likely continue even after the new well is drilled.