Reduced to a Trickle, River Managers Brace for More Drying

Reduced to a Trickle, River Managers Brace for More Drying

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

Source: Associated Press

7/21/2022

Credit: AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan

Triple digit temperatures and a fickle monsoon season have combined with decades of persistent drought to put one of North America's longest rivers in its most precarious situation yet.

Islands of sand and gravel and patches of cracked mud are taking over where the Rio Grande once flowed. It's a scene not unlike other hot, dry spots around the western U.S. where rivers and reservoirs have been shrinking due to climate change and continued demand.

Local and federal water managers on Thursday warned that more stretches of the beleaguered Rio Grande will be drying up in the coming days in the Albuquerque area, leaving endangered silvery minnows stranded in whatever puddles remain.

The threat of having the river dry this far north has been present the last few summers due to ongoing drought, officials with the Bureau of Reclamation and one of the largest irrigation districts on the river said. But, this could be the year that residents in New Mexico's most populated region get to witness the effects of climate change on a grander scale.