Most Active Stories Wed September 5, 2012 Low Flows on the Rio
Grande Here, where the Alameda Bridge crosses the Rio Grande on
the north side of Albuquerque, you can see what New Mexico’s
weak monsoon season looks like on the ground. The water is
braided around sandbars and islands. It’s so shallow that even
where the river is flowing, sand is visible just a few inches
below the surface. Two Canada Geese honk beneath the bridge,
then take off. When they land again, their feet are barely
covered by the water. Just downstream from here is where the
City of Albuquerque normally draws water for its four-year old
drinking water project--a project meant to lessen impacts on
groundwater. But right now, the Rio Grande is so low that the
city has had to stop taking water from the river and switch back
to groundwater pumps. John Stomp, Water Resources Manager at the
Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, sums up
the water situation in the Middle Rio Grande: “It’s bleak, I
would say. It’s really bleak.”