A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that the peak runoff on the Rio Grande could happen earlier than initial projections anticipated.
Shaleene Chavarria, USGS hydrologist, said that the information obtained from the Rio Grande New Mexico Basin Study will help cities located near the river, in a Feb. 2 USGS news release.
“The Rio Grande already flows through arid to semiarid regions where, in addition to removal by humans, evaporation has a major impact on water supply,” said Chavarria. “Knowing when peak runoff will occur and how much water will flow through the Rio Grande is crucial for water users like farmers, major contributors to the New Mexico economy, who need to know how much water is available and when it will arrive.”
The study has several goals including increasing preparedness for changes in future water supply and demand, as well as the creation of strategies to address future challenges, Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates reported. The study is expected to be completed in 2025.
“Understanding how climate change is affecting streamflow and snowmelt in an intensely managed area is challenging but crucial to determining future water availability,” said Dave Moeser, a USGS hydrologist and lead author of the study, in the release. “For example, if earlier peak flows no longer line up with the growing season, then managers may need to store water longer in reservoirs where it’s more prone to loss through seepage to groundwater and evaporation.”
Scientists from the USGS New Mexico Water Science Center and the South-Central Climate Adaptation Science Center at the University of Oklahoma, recently discovered that peak spring runoff on the Rio Grande will continue to arrive earlier and by 2099, could arrive a month earlier than the historic average if temperatures continue to warm, the release stated.
The Elephant Butte Irrigation District (Ebid) is in charge of gauging and discharging water to Las Cruces, New Mexico, from upstream dams and has determined that due to low water levels, the river may not arrive until June and could be gone by the end of July, according to High Country News.
The Rio Grande is the primary source of water for more than 13 million agricultural, municipal and industrial water users in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and northern Chihuahua, Mexico, according to the release.
The river also surrounds the southern boundary of Big Bend National Park in West Texas where it travels through 118 miles of canyons and desert, High Country News reported.
