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.
1 comment:
$4 million is no problem for the federal government. They can print up that much in less than 5 minutes.
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