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 …
By Jack Schmidt (1), John Fleck (2), Kathryn Sorensen (3), Eric Kuhn (4), Katherine Tara (2) | March 21, 2025 1 Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University 2 Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico 3 Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University 4 (sort of) retired In Short: Since the …
Continue reading ‘Colorado River Reservoir Storage in Mid-March: Where do we stand?’ »
By Eric Kuhn The Bureau of Reclamation released its March 24-Month study last Friday and just like last month, the forecast is for big trouble in the Colorado River Basin. Under the “Most Probable” scenario, the ten-year cumulative flow at Lee Ferry will drop below 82.5 million acre-feet (the “tripwire”) by the end of Water …
Continue reading ‘The March 24-Month study and the myth of a “Compact Call”’ »
Those Rio Grande runoff forecasts we use to make critical water management decisions on New Mexico’s Rio Grande? NRCS…. From the Western States Water Council: The mass layoff of federal workers, including U.S. Department of Agriculture layoffs, has led to the loss of seven positions at the National Water and Climate Center (NWCC), cutting nearly …
Continue reading ‘Wrecking ball report, snow survey edition’ »
The three Native American tribes in northeast Arizona – Diné, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute – are taking another run this year at a water rights settlement that would finally bring water to communities that lack it. An attempt last year failed in the final days of the last administration after Upper Colorado River …
Continue reading ‘Taking another crack at Tribal water in Arizona’ »
Early March is usually when I emerge from my wintry water nerd slumber and begin tracking the rise in my beloved hometown river, Albuquerque’s Rio Grande. Yesterday morning the core family unit packed sandwiches and went down to the Rio Bravo Bridge, on Albuquerque’s south side. It’s a favorite spot because of the graffiti – …
This week’s newest U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Rio Grande runoff model runs have triggered a string of “wait, what?” conversations this afternoon at the Utton Center. possible drying through Albuquerque as early as June, with a good chance of drying even earlier we may already have passed the spring runoff peak irrigation supplies, already short …
Via Annie Snyder (maybe behind a paywall?), the new crew in Washington has apparently realized we need those people at Reclamation who know how to operate dams and stuff: The Trump administration is pulling back on staff firings at the federal agency that runs California’s sprawling water system after the cuts threatened undercut President Donald …
The preliminary March 1 runoff forecast from Karl Wetlaufer, the federal government employee at the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service who provides vital information to help us make informed water management decisions, is yikes: February brought another month of well below median precipitation across the entire Rio Grande basin. As one would anticipate this generally …
Continue reading ‘Record low March 1 snowpack in some New Mexico watersheds’ »