Facing Drought, Low Snowpack, Rio Grande States Expect a ‘Challenging’ Year [1]
"Officials at the annual Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting said that they expect river flows this year to be among the lowest in history."
"SANTA FE, N.M.—“Severe.“ “Critical.” “Dire.” “Challenging.” “Record-low.”
Officials at the Rio Grande Compact Commission annual meeting Friday worked through the thesaurus to describe the conditions on the river that flows out of southwestern Colorado.
Compact signatory states—Colorado, New Mexico and Texas—along with federal agencies that operate along the river presented their 2026 outlooks at the New Mexico Capitol in Santa Fe.
The three states signed the Rio Grande Compact in 1938 to resolve disputes over water rights along the Rio Grande from its headwaters in Colorado to far West Texas. Farther downstream in Texas, from Presidio to the Gulf of Mexico, Rio Grande water is managed under separate frameworks."