NM drought remains worst in the nation, feds spend $4 million for a fish

In the eight months since Oct. 1, just 0.91 of an inch of rain has fallen at the Weather Service’s Albuquerque station, less than a quarter of average and the third-driest start to the city’s “water year” since record-keeping began in Albuquerque in the late 1800s. “I’m worried that the dirt’s gonna catch fire,” said Adrian Oglesby, a member of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District’s board of directors. Oglesby was kidding, but barely. The district, an irrigation agency that manages the Rio Grande riverside woods – the bosque – through much of central New Mexico, has closed much of the land it administers to the public because of fire risk. Wildland closures because of fire danger around New Mexico are growing, including closure of much of the Sandia and Manzano mountains, beginning June 10, and drought is taking its toll on farmers and ranchers across the state. According to the weekly federal Drought Monitor, 98 percent of New Mexico is in “severe” drought, the worst conditions in the country...more

Sequestration must not be too bad - the feds have $4 million to buy water for a fish.

The only water agency with a stockpile left is the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, which has been saving a multi-year supply in Abiquiu Reservoir. The utility’s board earlier this month agreed to sell 40,000 acre feet of that water – an amount equal to nearly half of Albuquerque’s annual consumption – to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to keep the Rio Grande wet for the silvery minnow. The utility will get $4 million for the water, which will go into a fund for future water rights purchases, according to John Stomp, chief operating officer at the utility.