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’ »
Elevated from the comments, observations from former Reclamation manager Doug Blatchford: WHEN I joined the Reclamation team in 2005 as the River Operation Manager on the Colorado River, part of my duties was to prepare a business plan to direct future business decisions based on the operations budget and services required (like delivering water to …
Continue reading ‘Wrecking Ball Report: At Reclamation, a view from the inside’ »
We’re starting to see dimly the outlines of what it means for the federal government to no longer be a reliable partner in western water management. Here’s Annie Snider and Camille Von Kaenel on what’s happening in California’s Reclamation operations: DOGE’s cuts are already hurting Reclamation’s ability to move water through a sprawling system of …
Continue reading ‘Wrecking ball report, California water edition’ »
I got a text message yesterday afternoon about this, which is nuts: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Albuquerque District announced today that an unintended water release from Cochiti Dam may increase flood risk on the Rio Grande in the river channel, riverbanks, and floodway. The cause of the unintended water release was a procedural error …
BERNARDO, NEW MEXICO – The juniper pollen has cranked up early this year, and the irrigators with groundwater pumps (legal or not, it’s hard to know) are firing them up, but the most telling sign of spring was the kettling sandhill cranes this morning. The term comes from the boiling water in a kettle, as …