A drying-up Rio Grande basin threatens water security on both sides of the border - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
One of North America's longest rivers, the Rio Grande — or Rio Bravo as it's called in Mexico — has a history as deep as it is long. Indigenous people have tapped it for countless generations, and it was a key artery for Spanish conquistadors centuries ago.
Today, the Rio Grande-Bravo water basin is in crisis.
Research published Thursday says the situation arguably is worse than challenges facing the Colorado River, another vital lifeline for western U.S. states that have yet to chart a course for how best to manage that dwindling resource.
Without rapid and large-scale action on both sides of the border, the researchers warn that unsustainable use threatens water security for millions of people who rely on the binational basin. They say more prevalent drying along the Rio Grande and persistent shortages could have catastrophic consequences for farmers, cities and ecosystems.
The study done by World Wildlife Fund, Sustainable Waters and a team of university researchers provides a full accounting of the consumptive uses as well as evaporation and other losses within the Rio Grande-Bravo basin. It helps to paint the most complete — and most alarming — picture yet of why the river system is in trouble.
Unsustainable
The basin provides drinking water to 15 million people in the U.S. and Mexico and irrigates nearly 2 million acres of cropland in the two countries.
The research shows only 48% of the water consumed directly or indirectly within the basin is replenished naturally. The other 52% is unsustainable, meaning reservoirs, aquifers and the river itself will be overdrawn.
"That's a pretty daunting, challenging reality when half of our water isn't necessarily going to be reliable for the future," said Brian Richter, president of Sustainable Waters and a senior fellow with the World Wildlife Fund. "So we have to really address that."
By breaking down the balance sheet, the researchers are hopeful policymakers and regulators can determine where water use can be reduced and how to balance supply with demand.
Warnings of what was to come first cropped up in the late 19th century when irrigation in Colorado's San Luis Valley began to dry the snowmelt-fed river, resulting in diminished flows as far south as El Paso, Texas. Now, some stretches of the river run dry for months at a time. The Big Bend area and even Albuquerque have seen dry cracked mud replace the river more often in recent years.
Irrigating crops by far is the largest direct use of water in the basin at 87%, according to the study. Meanwhile, losses to evaporation and uptake by vegetation along the river account for more than half of overall consumption in the basin, a factor that can't be dismissed as reservoir storage shrinks.
Vanishing farms
The irrigation season has become shorter, with canals drying up as early as June in some cases, despite a growing season in the U.S. and Mexico that typically lasts through October.
In central New Mexico, farmers got a boost with summer rains. However, farmers along the Texas portion of the Pecos River and in the Rio Conchos basin of Mexico — both tributaries within the basin — did not receive any surface water supplies.
"A key part of this is really connecting the urban populations to what's going on out on these farms. These farmers are really struggling. A lot of them are on the brink of bankruptcy," Richter said, linking water shortages to shrinking farms, smaller profits and less ability to afford labor and equipment.
The analysis found that between 2000-2019, water shortages contributed to the loss of 18% of farmland in the headwaters in Colorado, 36% along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and 49% in the Pecos River tributary in New Mexico and Texas.
With fewer farms, less water went to irrigation in the U.S. However, researchers said irrigation in the Mexican portion of the basin has increased greatly.
The World Wildlife Fund and Sustainable Waters are working with researchers at the University of New Mexico to survey farmers on solutions to the water crisis.
Jason Casuga, the chief engineer and CEO of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, said he is not surprised by the findings and was particularly interested in the data on how much water is lost to riparian areas along the river. He talked about his crews clearing thick walls of thirsty invasive salt cedar trees, describing it as an unnatural ecosystem that stemmed from human efforts to manage the river with levees and reservoirs.
While cities and farmers try to conserve, Casuga said there are few rules placed on consumption by riparian areas.
"We're willing to accept hundreds and hundreds of acres of invasive species choking out native species. And I'm hoping a study like this will cause people to think and ask those kinds of questions because I think our bosque is worth fighting for. As a culture in New Mexico, agriculture is worth fighting for," he said.
A raft of solutions
The responses to overuse and depletion are as varied as the jurisdictions through which the river flows, said Enrique Prunes, a co-author of the study and the manager of the World Wildlife Fund's Rio Grande Program.
He pointed to Colorado, where water managers have threatened to shut off groundwater wells if the aquifer that supports irrigated farms cannot be stabilized. There, farmers who pump groundwater pay fees that are used to incentivize other farmers to fallow their fields.
New Mexico's fallowing program is voluntary, but changes could be in store if the U.S. Supreme Court signs off on proposed settlements stemming from a long-running dispute with Texas and the federal government over management of the Rio Grande and groundwater use. New Mexico has acknowledged it will have to curb groundwater pumping.
New Mexico is behind in its water deliveries to Texas under an interstate compact, while Mexico owes water to the U.S. under a 1944 binational treaty. Researchers said meeting those obligations won't get easier.
Prunes said policymakers must also consider the environment when crafting solutions.
"Rebalancing the system also means maintaining those basic functions that the river and the aquifers and the groundwater-dependent ecosystems have," he said. "And that's the indicator of resilience to a future of less water."
State seeking funding for new chip cards for SNAP recipients to reduce fraud, theft - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Amid a recent political tumult over food assistance, a New Mexico state agency is planning to make several security-focused changes to the cards eligible state residents use to buy groceries.
State Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo told lawmakers this week the agency will request an additional $5.4 million during the upcoming 30-day legislative session to replace existing electronic cards with chip cards in an effort to reduce theft and fraud.
“People won’t be able to exchange cards as readily” if the change to chip cards is made, Armijo said.
The funding would be part of the agency’s overall $116 million budget increase request for the coming fiscal year — a 5.6% increase over current spending levels.
Several states have already issued, or are planning to issue, chip cards to those enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The list of such states includes California, Oklahoma and New Jersey.
Meanwhile, the Health Care Authority is also planning to make changes early next year to the way replacement cards are issued, an agency spokeswoman said. The electric benefit, or EBT, cards are loaded monthly with a recipient’s approved dollar amount for buying groceries.
The Health Care Authority issued about 193,000 replacement EBT cards last year, through both mail and in-person requests, and the changes are intended to reduce the number of cards being issued, said spokeswoman Marina Piña.
“This change will help the state cut down on unnecessary card replacements and reduce the chances for misuse,” Piña said.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern over fraud and misuse of SNAP benefits in New Mexico, which has the nation’s highest rate of individuals receiving food assistance at about 21% of the state’s population.
Those concerns have been fueled, in part, by a recent investigation into EBT cards being traded for fentanyl in Sierra County. The law enforcement investigation was triggered by an overdose death in Truth or Consequences, according to a KRQE-TV report.
The case prompted Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, to ask the director of a legislative agency to expand the scope of a planned review of the state’s administration of SNAP benefits to include instances of fraud, waste and criminal conduct.
“New Mexico should step forward with transparency,” Brantley said in a recent statement. “The families in my district — and across our entire state — deserve to know that every SNAP dollar is going where it’s intended: to feed people in need, not to fuel the fentanyl crisis.”
Since November of last year, the Health Care Authority has received between 138 and 158 reports of stolen SNAP benefits or card theft, Piña said. Those reports range from card “skimming,” or when sensitive account information is unlawfully obtained, to outright physical theft.
However, top agency officials have been quick to point out such actions are not reflected in the state’s SNAP error rate, which measures the accuracy of each state’s benefit eligibility determinations.
New Mexico had the nation’s fourth-highest SNAP error rate as of last year — behind only Alaska, Georgia and Florida — and could face funding implications under a federal budget bill if the rate remains high in future years.
“We have a high confidence that we’ll be able to bring it down,” Armijo told members of the Legislative Finance Committee during a hearing at the Roundhouse this week.
Statewide, there were slightly more than 458,000 New Mexicans who qualified for SNAP benefits as of October, according to HCA data. That includes 168,000 children around the state.
Food assistance for those recipients became a political flashpoint this month after a federal government shutdown led President Donald Trump’s administration to freeze SNAP benefits.
In response, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued executive orders freeing up $30 million to keep benefits in place for a 10-day period. Once that funding was depleted, she called lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a special session to approve up to $162 million to keep paying for food assistance through mid-January.
Most of that funding will not be necessary, however, after Trump signed a bill ending the shutdown on Nov. 12.
But the fight over SNAP funding in Washington, D.C., appears far from over, as legislation filed Thursday by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and other Senate Democrats would repeal funding cuts to the food assistance program included in the federal budget bill.
NM Secretary of State signs letter to feds about voter roll data
Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver recently signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expressing concern about the federal government’s request for states’ voter rolls.
The Nov. 18 letter, as Colorado Newsline originally reported, was signed by 10 Democratic secretaries of state, and raises concerns about inconsistent information from the federal agencies about how they are using and sharing voter data requested from states in recent months.
The election officials’ recent letter notes that everyone who signed it—which in addition to Toulouse Oliver includes the secretaries of state from Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington—received letters requesting voter data lists—in some cases redacted lists that included “dates of birth, state driver’s license numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers.”
In the case of New Mexico, as Source NM previously reported, the United States Department of Justice initially reached out to Toulouse Oliver in July. She told Source NM this week the state provided the federal government with “the publicly available file that anyone has access to,” which does not include Social Security Numbers and only years of birth.
Following the requests for data, the letter says, officials heard inconsistent information about how the information would be used.
According to the letter, at the end of August in a phone call meeting arranged by the National Association of Secretaries of State, a U.S. Department of Justice representative said the lists would be used to assess compliance with the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.
Then a DHS official named Heather Honey, in a separate meeting, said that “that DHS had not received voter data or requested it. She then suggested that DHS had no intention of using voter data.”
That information was contradicted when the Trump administration acknowledged that the Department of Justice was sharing voter information with Homeland Security to search for non-citizens.
Honey, according to the DHS website, holds a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary for elections integrity. The letter from the secretaries of states notes that Honey “has a history of spreading false claims about elections.”
“Federal law and the U.S. Constitution are clear: states are responsible for administering elections,” the letter reads. “Additionally, transmitting this information to another federal agency raises serious Privacy Act concerns and risks improper dissemination of and access to sensitive voter data. We are deeply concerned about the inconsistent and misleading information that Secretaries have received from the DOJ and DHS and with the potential lack of compliance with federal law.”
The letter asks for answers to a series of questions by Dec. 1 about how the voter information has or will be used or shared.
In response to a query from Source NM regarding the letter, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson referenced a previous statement on the topic provided by a spokesperson that says:
“Enforcing the Nation’s elections laws is a priority in this administration and in the Civil Rights Division. Congress gave the Justice Department authority under the NVRA, HAVA, the Civil Rights Act, and other statutes to ensure that states have proper voter registration procedures and programs to maintain clean voter rolls containing only eligible voters in federal elections. The recent request by the Civil Rights Division for state voter rolls is pursuant to that statutory authority, and the responsive data is being screened for ineligible voter entries.”
Source has a pending query with Homeland Security regarding the letter and its content.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Toulouse Oliver told Source NM that she had two main concerns about the federal government’s request for voter data rolls. First: “What is the data being used for outside of verifying citizenship? That’s a big concern, because we’re not in the business of creating citizenship lists or providing information to [Immigration Customs Enforcement] that would potentially harm people who are legally here in the United States. We’ve seen from many, many news reports, there are a number of people that ICE have detained that are either US citizens or have legal status, so to me, that’s deeply concerning.”
Toulouse noted, as she has previously to Source, that she’s not worried “that there is some huge amount, if any, non-citizens on our voter registration list. What I am concerned about goes to the number two concern, which is they have insisted that we send them our data and that they do the matching. And that’s not how it works. We, the county clerks and my office, are experts in matching data for voter registration purposes, and we go out of our way to ensure that a match is an accurate match.”
Accurate matches, she said, “go beyond having the same name and birth date. Because you can have two Juan Sanchezes with the same birth date; it’s not hard to imagine in New Mexico. We have deep concerns about how they are doing their matches and what is the level of scrutiny that’s being applied to that process.”
If state officials were doing the checking, Toulouse Oliver noted, “I would trust that process a lot more than whatever mysterious process they’re doing because, again, I know that we are going to exhaust every possible resource at our disposal to ensure that when we say this person is a non-citizen and they’re on the voter registration list, that we are sure that they are and or that we have a high percentage of being sure.”
The bottom line, she said, “they’re actually using voter registration as a tool to try to find non-citizens to prosecute or persecute through their other agenda regarding non-citizens. And it’s not, in my mind, about making sure we don’t have non-citizens on the voting rolls, although that should be a goal that we all share. It’s more about using that data for other purposes.”
And while Toulouse Oliver said she doesn’t necessarily expect to receive a response to the questions posed by the letter, “If I don’t stand up and use my voice for what is right, then I’m complicit. If I don’t stand up and I don’t say, ‘Hey, this is wrong. Can you please provide us with some answers?’ then I’m not doing my job.”
Luján leads US Senate effort to reverse SNAP cuts - Patrick Lohman, Source New Mexico
U.S. Sen Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico led fellow senators Thursday in a denunciation of recent federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program before introducing a bill that would repeal all SNAP-related changes in the recently enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
The bill President Donald Trump signed July 4 cuts $187 billion from SNAP over the next decade, including $68 billion by 2029, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. It does so primarily by imposing additional work requirements on SNAP recipients and additional costs on states.
Luján, a Democrat who leads a Senate subcommittee on nutrition and represents the state with the highest nationwide percentage of SNAP recipients, called the cuts cruel and unprecedented.
“For half a century, our nation has upheld a bipartisan promise to ensure that no child, no senior, no veteran, no working family should go hungry in the United States of America,” he said. “Republicans broke that promise, and today, congressional Democrats are fighting to restore this program.”
The two-page bill Luján introduced, which 46 other senators co-sponsored, seeks simply to repeal all the provisions in the Republican bill imposing the SNAP cuts. It’s called the “Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025.”
He and other Democrats who spoke at a news conference Thursday in Washington D.C. pointed to the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold November SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, despite court rulings and a contingency plan the federal Agriculture Department had in place to keep benefits flowing during a shutdown.
Withholding the benefits caused upheaval in the food assistance program, which 42 million Americans rely on, including about 460,000 New Mexicans. Food banks in New Mexico saw sharp increases in demand, and the Legislature stepped in to approve nearly $200 million in state funds to pay for benefits throughout January.
Now that the government has reopened, New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee director on Monday told state lawmakers the state was receiving all its expected federal SNAP funding. But the cuts are still in effect under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” provisions, Luján noted, which he and Democrats are hoping to stop.
“These are people across the country who you probably stand in line with when you’re checking out at a grocery store every day. Folks right now, they face the real possibility of going hungry because of the choices made by President Trump and congressional Republicans,” he said.