Disappearing Rio Grande

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Now, back to the work you are supporting. 

We spent the morning at a board meeting of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. The district has been dealing with Texas’ concerns that groundwater pumping in New Mexico has been reducing surface water supplies in Texas since at least the mid-1940s. Today's meeting was a review of that dispute, which is alive and well.

Over the decades, the two irrigation districts have worked out various agreements for how to compensate each other. We got a history lesson in those agreements, the various ideas to get water, and the hydrologic reality that more water is being taken out of this valley than is going into it and eventually someone will have to pay. Or maybe the rain will return and this issue can be kicked down the road for another decade or so.  

The challenge now is that New Mexico did not like the latest operating agreement and sued in federal court to have it tossed out. That, along with the drought, triggered Texas to sue New Mexico in the U.S. Supreme Court.

This leaves Elephant Butte Irrigation District in the very awkward position of being at odds with Texas and New Mexico. Everyone we talked to did not give New Mexico good odds of winning in court. That leaves them with the very real risk that the groundwater that supports almost all of the farming in the district could be taken away by a court-imposed management plan.

It also was brought up several times that the snow pack, which provides the vast majority of the water used by the farmers, is getting smaller and has no effective way to capture the late summer monsoon rains.

It was a lot to take in.  No one seemed too excited about the possible outcomes for any of it.

Maybe that despair explains why we saw a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the gate of an irrigation ditch that was full of weeds.

We left the meeting with our heads spinning. I returned to the very basic task of heading down river.

Today I crossed into Texas. There was a park of sorts marking the state line.  It looked like it had not seen maintenance for years. The grass grew in clumps, makeshift fire pits were left next to all the cement benches, and broken beer bottles and human waste was scattered along the paved walkway.

Just above the state line, the only water came out of a pipe marked “fall out” and “danger.”  The water reached the river, pooled in a shallow mud-lined pond and then sank into the sand. 

I did not have my water quality testing equipment and the mosquitos and heat made me just want to keep on walking. 

This is not an easy place to be.  

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