ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’ve driven or walked by the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, you’ve noticed it’s bone dry. The reason might be obvious to most: We live in the Southwest and have had little rain or snowpack. But as our community, especially farmers, struggle, are our leaders doing anything to solve this issue that seems to be recurring?

“I had been here like maybe a month ago, and there was some water, and then I came a week ago, and I was like, we literally can walk across the Rio Grande,” Kat Walker said.

Even though we live in the Southwest, that’s the reaction most locals have after realizing they can walk through the Rio Grande without getting a drop on them.

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District CEO Jason Casuga said this year could go down as one of the worst for how much water we’ve received.

“There are communities out there that are suffering to a degree that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” he said.

Farmers are one of the largest groups being impacted. Some haven’t been able to irrigate their crops in months.

“There are irrigators north of Isleta Pueblo who are 60 days out from the last day they irrigated. Sixty days. Let’s put that into perspective. And so that’s a struggle,” Casuga said.

This is the second summer in a row the Rio Grande has dried up. Right now, an 87-mile-long stretch has no water in the Rio Grande. Casuga said that’s normally in the 40-to-50-mile range.

What can be done?

Casuga believes tools like storing water could help our water issue.

“We have had bad years between the ’50s and now, but MRGCD and others could store water in upstream reservoirs, so in a dry year like this, we would be releasing water,” he said.

But actually doing that isn’t that simple because of what’s known as the Rio Grande Compact. It’s an agreement between New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas that essentially divvies up water from the Rio Grande Basin. It’s law in each state.

“Within the articles of the compact, depending on which article is triggered, you have operational restrictions, and the further that we get in debt as a state to the compact, the more operational restrictions we have,” he continued. “We haven’t violated it yet. We just are behind on our responsibility to deliver water.”

Casuga believes once the state is out of its compact debt, it will have a better chance at managing water. Because that debt means New Mexico can’t store water for itself right now, a restriction water managers wish wasn’t so rigid in dry years.

“I do think there are improvements we can make to delivering water under the compact that would free up some tools to help us manage drought better,” he continued. “Our processes need to be more flexible and more responsive when we have extreme drought.”

He said the state is working with the feds, but unfortunately, it’s a long process. So for now, things will be dry a bit longer.

Hope is in the forecast

Before 2022, the river in Albuquerque hadn’t gone dry like this in 40 years. Casuga reiterated: This is likely one of the worst droughts we’ve ever been in.

“The overall water year is not done yet, but it could go down as one of the worst or the worst years depending on the way the monsoon season shapes up,” he said.

The good news is a strong El Niño is forecast for this year, which could bring some much-needed precipitation.

“In terms of now, what we can do now, we’re really in the hands of whether it rains or not from this point to the end of the year, but I do think things are shaping up that give us indications we can have a much better snow year as we enter November through next March, and maybe we won’t be sitting here in a dry riverbed in July next year,” Casuga said.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Say hello to Lucy, Bobo, Baxter and Dion. They’re up for adoption, with Lucy and Bobo up for adoption from Pitties and Kitties of New Mexico.

“Bobo came from the city shelter. He was very, very stressed out. So we took him in and he’s doing pretty great,” Pitties and Kitties’ Holly Dusthimer said. “Lucy is also from the city shelter. We’ve had her since about April. She is painfully shy but once you get to know her, she’s absolutely the sweetest girl. She is dog-friendly, she’s can be a little difficult to introduce other dogs but when she knows them she absolutely loves them.”

Bobo is about five years old. Meanwhile, Lucy is currently living with cats, hence Pitties and Kitties. The organization has a fundraiser coming up July 25th at the Rail Yards.

“It’s the Disco Doggy Fashion Show, it’s a bunch of sustainable fashion designers and then a bunch of adoptable dogs. It’s not just our rescue. There are a few other rescues going. The dogs will be walking the runway with the fashion models, so it’ll be equal parts awesome, equal parts chaos,” Dusthimer said.

Tickets are available now (here online) but they’re also selling fast. If you can’t make it, maybe look at one of these pals to adopt in the video above.

Grant’s Monday Night Forecast

Monsoon storms will return to parts of New Mexico every day this week, while hotter temperatures move in later in the week.

Thunderstorms developed across the mountains of New Mexico Monday afternoon. These storms slowly drifted south into the evening. Almost all of these showers and storms have ended now tonight. Another round of afternoon thunderstorms is expected Tuesday, developing first over the mountains before spreading into nearby valleys and lower elevations again. However, some storms around the Four Corners will be on the drier side, increasing the threat for lightning caused wildfires with little rainfall.

The monsoon high that has been bringing thunderstorms early this week will shift well west of New Mexico on Wednesday. This will bring hotter and slightly drier weather across the state. Even so, afternoon thunderstorms will still develop, especially over the mountains and across northeast New Mexico. Drier air will limit storm coverage Thursday and Friday across central, northern, and western New Mexico, while southern and eastern parts of the state continue to see the best chance for afternoon storms. Hotter weather will also return later this week, with triple-digit heat expanding to more locations, including the Albuquerque metro area Thursday and Friday.

The heat will continue into the weekend as the monsoon high strengthens and shifts back toward Utah and Colorado. That pattern will also bring higher monsoon moisture into New Mexico, bringing increasing chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms statewide Saturday and Sunday.