Rio Grande may dry up through Albuquerque, NM
(Global warming - climate change)
May 10, 2018 05:20 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
It's a sad sight for John Fleck, director of the UNM Water Resources program. He said the drought-ravaged Rio Grande is just a shadow of its former self.
There is a real threat that the Rio Grande could go dry through Albuquerque for the first time in decades. Fleck said it would look drier today if it wasn't for upstream reservoir water being released into the river for farmers.
Even that is fleeting.
"Once the water for the farmers runs out, the river will just dry up and that could come as soon as July," Fleck said.
So far, Fleck says, it's the second-worst year on record for the once-mighty river.
"Unprecedented in many, many decades certainly in the lifetime of most of the people who live in Albuquerque today to see a dry Rio Grande through the middle of this town," he said.
Some areas have already dried up, like a section near Bosque del Apache in Socorro, NM.
http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/dry-rio-grande-albuquerque-unm-water-resources-director-john-fleck/4902714/