Albuquerque's water use has spiked so far this year, and the local utility is asking people to cut back.

The city-county Water Utility Authority is asking people to water only two days a week -- for about 15 to 20 minutes &emdash; during May. If your landscape can't survive on that amount of water, it's probably not appropriate for the high-desert climate, said Katherine Yuhas, the utility's conservation officer.

The utility has to meet state-mandated conservation requirements as part of a river-water-diversion permit.