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.
The Middle Rio Grande through Albuquerque dried for 50 days last summer — and this year it could happen even earlier. With reservoirs at historic lows and 85% of New Mexico's Rio Grande water use deemed unsustainable, water managers and advocates say the region faces not a temporary drought but permanent aridification.