Podcasting the monsoon
Like a blog post, but with yakking! Rin Tara and I on the coming of Albuquerque’s summer rains.
Archive of posts filed under the water category.
Building a city in the bed of a river
Most of Greater Downtown (Albuquerque) sits below the level of the Rio Grande, like a sort of high-desert New Orleans. Any rain that falls between the river’s east-bank levee and roughly Broadway will stay in the area until it evaporates, gets absorbed into the ground, or is otherwise dealt with. – Downtown Albuquerque News DAN …
The batting cages and the Armijo Acequia
One of my favorite examples of old ditches threading through our community is this spot, where the Armijo Acequia (AKA the Ranchos de Atrisco Ditch) emerges from a culvert that runs beneath the batting cages on Sunset SE near the Rio Grande. The ditch dates to the 1700s. Baseball is more recent, batting cages more …
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The Colorado River “psst psst” scheme emerges into public view: the “Supply Driven” concept
See note of correction/clarification below: Arizona yesterday finally moved the super-secret idea at the heart of current Colorado River negotiations out of the shadows. The idea is deceptively simple: base Lake Powell releases on a percentage of the three-year rolling average of the Colorado River’s estimated “natural flow” at Lee Ferry. Allocate water …
Brad Udall on climate change and the Colorado River
Via Allen Best, Brad Udall’s critically important comments at last week’s Getches-Wilkinson Colorado River conference: Within this basin, we can and have worked together to deal with a really sticky, difficult issue like climate change, to inform decision-making given the right partners, including the federal government at the table. Point two is our current climate …
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The Colorado River Conclave
Fascinating observation from Jim Lochhead this morning at the Getches-Wilkinson Center Colorado River Conference about the nature of the current negotiations and the role of the federal government. It came during a panel moderated by Anne Castle focused on what we learned from the expiring 2007 river management guidelines, which are the subject of intense …
Colorado River Basin Reservoir Storage: where do we stand?
Jack Schmidt* and John Fleck** *Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University **Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico School of Law 1 June 2025 We now begin June, when the Colorado River’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, should be swelling with melting snow for use later this year …
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What the Mexican Treaty negotiations of the 1940s can tell us about 21st century Colorado River governance
Eric Kuhn, with some help from Anne Castle and myself, has taken a useful dive into what was known in the 1940s as Congress was considering the treaty between the United States and Mexico regarding how to share the waters of the Colorado River. Drawing on the analysis of Colorado’s Royce Tipton, Eric draws out …
The May USBR Colorado River 24-Month Study Confirms What We Feared
By Eric Kuhn and John Fleck The Bureau of Reclamation has released its May 24-Month Study. It confirms that 2025 will be another very dry year and the consequences will be significant. Under the minimum probable forecast, active storage in Lake Powell will fall to an elevation of 3530’ (5.8 maf), only about 9 feet …
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The confluence of the Rio Salado and the Rio Grande
SAN ACACIA – It’s three river miles upstream from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District’s San Acacia Diversion Dam to the Rio Grande’s confluence with the Rio Salado, but the river’s twisty here. It wasn’t much more than two miles of bike ride along the MRGCD’s Unit 7 Drain service road to get to the …
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