Archive of posts filed under the water category.

Autumn Rains Delay Colorado River Basin-wide Reservoir Depletion

Posted by on

By Jack Schmidt | December 3, 2025 Autumn Rains Delay Basin-wide Reservoir Depletion In BriefUnusually wet conditions in the Basin in October and November 2025, combined with reduced releases from some reservoirs, led to a basin-wide increase in storage for the two-month period. The combined contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead increased during the …

Continue reading ‘Autumn Rains Delay Colorado River Basin-wide Reservoir Depletion’ »

Quoting Dagmar Llewellyn

Posted by on

It’s important to understand that the Rio Grande is not a natural system. It’s an engineered system. It’s managed on a daily basis by a consortium of agencies at all different levels of government plus municipal water users and irrigation districts. So partly, (drying is) a product of decisions. It is also clearly a product …

Continue reading ‘Quoting Dagmar Llewellyn’ »

The Value of Water in Alternative Uses, Cemetery Edition

Posted by on

Wednesday family lunch included tacos at El Paisa on Bridge just west of the river, and then a drive to the Los Padillas Cemetery in the far south valley. I love cemeteries because they speak to some deep values, and I’ve taken to using them as a teaching tool for our UNM Water Resources Program …

Continue reading ‘The Value of Water in Alternative Uses, Cemetery Edition’ »

California’s 2025 use of Colorado River water is on track to be the lowest since 1949

Posted by on

California’s projected use of Colorado River water this year, 3.76 million acre feet as of Reclamation’s Oct. 29 modeling runs, would be, as near as I can tell, the state’s lowest use since 1949. Also notable: Nevada’s 197,280 acre feet would be the lowest since 1992. The two lowest years in Imperial Irrigation District’s history …

Continue reading ‘California’s 2025 use of Colorado River water is on track to be the lowest since 1949’ »

Salmon return to the Klamath headwaters

Posted by on

For the first time in more than a century, salmon have reached the headwaters of the Klamath River Basin, a milestone made possible by the removal of four major dams along the California–Oregon border. The event marks a defining moment for both environmental restoration and the communities of southern Oregon that depend on the river’s …

Continue reading ‘Salmon return to the Klamath headwaters’ »

Administration proposes budget cuts for Tribal clean water initiatives

Posted by on

In carrying out its treaty obligations with the Indian tribes, the Government is something more than a mere contracting party. Under a humane and self imposed policy which has found expression in many acts of Congress and numerous decisions of this Court, it has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust. …

Continue reading ‘Administration proposes budget cuts for Tribal clean water initiatives’ »

Externalities of fallowing

Posted by on

We identified fallowed land—an unplanted agricultural land parcel—as a key anthropogenic dust source in California. Specifically, we find that the Central Valley accounts for about 77% of total fallowed land areas in California, where they are associated with about 88% of major anthropogenic dust events. We also find that the geographic coverage of these fallowed …

Continue reading ‘Externalities of fallowing’ »

The driest year on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande since 1964

Posted by on

  Total flow to date on the Rio Grande at Otowi is the lowest since 1964. Otowi is the place where the river leaves the upper valleys and enters the canyons that lie at the head of the valley of Albuquerque, what we in New Mexico call the “Middle Rio Grande.” The graph shows total …

Continue reading ‘The driest year on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande since 1964’ »