In an effort to improve vegetation die-off along the Rio Grande’s beloved Bosque, more than 650 million gallons of water has been released into the parched riverbed.
The water traveled 119 miles – beginning at the Abiquiú Reservoir on the Rio Chama – before reaching Albuquerque on Thursday.
The temporary surge isn’t expected to last through the weekend, so researchers are scrambling to study the ecosystem’s response.
First released on Monday, the massive pulse slowly moved down the dusty bones of the Rio Grande this week with a specific purpose: helping the environment, especially the struggling ribbon of cottonwood trees along the dry river.
“It’s in a world of hurt,” said Paul Tashjian, director of freshwater conservation at Audubon Southwest, about the Bosque. “It’s showing tremendous stress. And the unfortunate thing with cottonwood trees is they don’t bounce back.”
Amid an unprecedented year of low snowpack, minimal monsoon rainfall, and blazing hot temperatures, cottonwoods and wildlife alike are suffering from a lack of water in the Rio.
But Tashjian says this presents a rare learning opportunity.
“It’s really important to understand this action,” he said. “How well it’s working or not working, how it’s filling the aquifer, and that’s not just important for the trees. This is important for how we move water.”
Right now, the city of Albuquerque is relying on an aquifer – which acts like an underground sponge – of finite water to meet 100% of its drinking and irrigation demands.
By closely observing how the day-long, temporary surge of water “recharges” the aquifer by seeping back into the ground, they hope to understand how to meet the needs of the Bosque’s cottonwoods and wildlife during times of prolonged dryness.
There are also other things to study: like the tree canopy, coyotes, beavers, waterfowl, and other birds. Without a solution, future riparian drought will likely force birds to shift their migratory patterns away from New Mexico.
In all, the Interstate Stream Commission, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech), the state Bureau of Geology, the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Department, the Utton Transboundary Resources Center and the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Project will all be collecting data.
Tashjian says that the water will also benefit irrigators down south, who haven’t seen water in over 100 days.
“It [the water] soaks into the aquifer, which then hits the side riverside drains through town, providing more water downriver,” he said.
But he’s quick to point out the water used for this de facto science project wasn’t taken from farmers.
Audubon Southwest was able to “lease,” or temporarily buy, water rights from users through a combination of funding sources — the social media giant Meta provides the nonprofit with money to directly offset its water use at its Los Lunas data center. Amazon does the same to offset its water use at its West Side Albuquerque distribution center.
In addition to Audubon's 300 acre-feet of water, or about 97.8 million gallons, the Middle Rio Grande Conservation District pooled 300-acre feet from a water settlement with the city of Rio Rancho, and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority provided a staggering 1400 acre-feet from their supply of Colorado River water.
All of these sources drew on water from the San Juan-Chama project, which diverts some of New Mexico’s share of Colorado River water across the Continental Divide and into the Rio Chama and Rio Grande basins.
The water then sits at the Abiquiú Reservoir – much like a bank account balance – and can be spent by water managers on these so-called “environmental flows,” municipal drinking water, irrigation, or other uses.
The reservoir is currently at 7% of its total storage capacity after the headwaters of the Colorado River experienced their worst snowpack in recent history this winter.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took to social media after the special water release to quell concerns about potential impacts to Abiquiú Lake. They said the flow decreased the lake’s level by only 3–4 inches, which was padded out by recent local monsoon rainfall.
Without reservoirs like these, the Southwest would have nothing to pump for agriculture or municipal drinking water systems.
Tashjian said conservation organizations are tinkering with the idea of holding some sort of “session” either this fall or winter to inform the public of their findings.
