US Water Managers Warn of Dismal Year Along the Rio Grande
Voice of America
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO - It has been 30 years or so since residents in New Mexico's largest city last saw their stretch of the Rio Grande go dry.
There's a possibility it could happen again this summer. Federal water managers released their annual operating plan for the Rio Grande on Thursday, and it doesn't look good. Flows have been meager so far this year because of below-average snowpack in the mountains along the Colorado-New Mexico border that feed the river. Spring precipitation has done little to fill the void. Reservoirs are at a fraction of their capacity and continue to shrink. There is no opportunity to replenish them because the provisions of a water-sharing agreement with Texas prevent New Mexico from storing water upstream. That means the drought-stricken state has no extra water in the bank to fall back on, as it has had in previous years.FILE - West Virginia University students lead a protest against cuts to programs in world languages, creative writing and more amid a $45 million budget deficit, Aug. 21, 2023, outside Stewart Hall in Morgantown, W.Va. FILE - West Virginia University senior Mailyn Sadler leads a protest in the university's free speech zone outside the Mountainlair student union against cuts to programs, Aug. 21, 2023, in Morgantown, W.Va.
FILE - Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana who became pregnant in 2023, poses for a photo in Accra, Ghana, March 19, 2024. FILE - Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana who became pregnant in 2023, poses for a photo in Accra, Ghana, March 19, 2024.