A discussion with Nat Chakeres, OSE General Counsel, and Tanya Trujillo, Deputy State Engineer, discussing how the OSE is managing Rio Grande Compact compliance in the Middle Rio Grande and below Elephant Butte Dam in the Lower Rio Grande. Learn about incentives and motivators that the OSE can use to ensure that New Mexico complies with its legal water sharing mandates.
Eighty-five years of Rio Grande Compact accounting data tell a clear and troubling story. The 17-year period from 2009 through 2025 produced native basin flows at the Otowi Bridge gauge nearly identical to 1948–1964 — the most severe sustained dry period in the Compact record. The San Juan-Chama Project, long a buffer against dry years, […]