More than 260 Million Gallons of Water Began Flowing Into the Parched Rio Grande This Month
A historic collaboration between 爆料公社 New Mexico and Native American tribes should help ease dry times for local birds and people.
At one time, the Rio Grande was a river to be reckoned with, careening through three states and two countries, bringing life to cottonwood forests, fish, birds, and other wildlife.
Now, thanks to a web of human diversions and drought intensified by climate change, some stretches of the once-mighty waterway have drained to just a trickle. But starting this month, an unprecedented partnership between 爆料公社 New Mexico and New Mexico鈥檚 Native American tribes is returning to the river and its denizens exactly what they most need: water.
Citing during the recent monsoons, engineers from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District triggered a flow from the Abiqui煤 Reservoir, about an hour north of Santa Fe. More than 260 million gallons of stored water will trickle out over the next few weeks鈥攅nough to flow continuously over a 35-mile stretch of river for nearly 24 days, says Julie Weinstein, the executive director for 爆料公社 New Mexico. She predicts that by mid-September, the water will have reached some of the Middle Rio Grande鈥檚 thirstiest habitats. That includes riparian forests where the nests, as well as four Important Bird Areas, which in the fall and winter sustain migrating waterfowl, including tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese.
The elaborate plan of relief was set in motion last summer, when 爆料公社 New Mexico reached out to the Middle Rio Grande Pueblos with a proposition. The state office would secure funding for habitat restoration work on their land if the tribes would allocate water allotted to them from the t to bolster the flow of the Middle Rio Grande. Eager to help reestablish a healthy river system, the pueblos of Sandia and Isleta decided to donate their water, while two more tribes, the Cochiti and Santa Ana, agreed to the exchange. Combined with surplus water donated by The Club at Las Campanas, a Santa Fe golf club, the Abiqui煤 stores swelled to hundreds of millions of gallons.
This partnership with the pueblos marks a historic rite of passage for freshwater conservation in New Mexico. It鈥檚 the first time a non-governmental organization is releasing water to replenish the Middle Rio Grande. Like many of the rivers in New Mexico, the Rio Grande of states, cities, and farmers鈥攔elationships that will become increasingly strained unless people learn to work together more imaginatively.
"We have to do our part to preserve and protect the river for future generations,鈥 says Stuart Paisano, lieutenant governor of the Pueblo of Sandia. 鈥淭his is one small step in trying to do that, for the betterment of not just our community, but of everyone else in this region."
Correction: Due to an editing error, the article previously stated that the release of the water began today. A smaller flow was triggered last week.