Via Laura Paskus: The Middle Rio Grande began drying on April 15, and on Monday more than 18 miles were dry south of Albuquerque. We should expect poor conditions to expand in the coming weeks and months — and plan accordingly. Historically, the Rio Grande experienced snowmelt-driven spring pulses, which spurred fish like the endangered …
Continue reading ‘Rio Grande drying in central New Mexico’ »
It’s easy to take for granted the accounting innovations in the Colorado River governance regime’s 2007 guidelines, which have governed river management and the upstream-downstream relationships between the upper and lower basins. “Intentionally Created Surplus” (ICS) is now part of the lexicon, and the idea behind it shows enough promise that it’s at the heart …
Continue reading ‘On the Colorado River, doing the accounting with care’ »
Crews monitoring New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande reported yesterday (April 14, 2025) that the river’s still flowing past the San Marcial railroad bridge. Just downstream of the bridge, the USGS gage dropped to zero flow yesterday morning. We’re at the pivotal moment when the fact that you have to go out and look, and finding …
Continue reading ‘New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande: Not Dry Yet!’ »
My Utton Center colleague Rin Tara and I spent the day out in the field yesterday, a visit to River Mile 60 at the bottom end of New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. (Disclosure: We took bikes, but “out in the field” sounds fancier than “on a bike ride.”) The trip was fodder for a piece …
Continue reading ‘New Mexico’s incredible shrinking Rio Grande’ »
“Everybody keeps hoping that the only way we’re going to really rebuild storage is if we have another ridiculous, gangbuster year like 2023,” said Jack Schmidt, a watershed sciences professor at Utah State University and Director of its Center for Colorado River Studies. But, he continued, “that’s highly unlikely.” Via Anastasia Hufham in the Salt …
Nowadays, almost no one’s experience of water insecurity is dependent on the physical availability of water in their local environment. What determines how much water we have is the kinds of infrastructure we build, the economies that we built to manage the water, the values we put on the water, and so if we want …
We are heading into a remarkable year on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. Here are some critical factors: The preliminary April 1 forecast from the NRCS is for 27 percent of median April – July runoff at Otowi, the key measurement gage for New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande. Current reservoir storage above us is basically …
Continue reading ‘Dancing with Deadpool on New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande’ »
My Utton Center pal Rin Tara and I are excited to launch “Water Matters,” our new podcast. Our first guest is Diane Agnew from the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, who is charming and also breaks some news. Find it here, or, as they say on podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.
I’m back after a couple of months’ hiatus to working on Ribbons of Green, the new book Bob Berrens and I are finishing up for publication next year by UNM Press. The current task, putting together the final package of art, is a blast. There’s more than a little tedious technical work (sorting out copyright …
Via Annie Snider at Politico: The Trump administration escalated a water fight with Mexico on Thursday, saying it will cut off Colorado River water deliveries to the city of Tijuana. In a post on X, the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said it would deny Mexico’s request to deliver water to Tijuana through …