Transcript:
The Rio Grande once reliably flowed from the mountains in Colorado across the deserts of New Mexico and Texas to the Gulf.
But now, cities and farms siphon off much of that water, and drought has hit the river hard.
So at times, stretches of the Rio Grande run dry – harming wildlife and people.
Prunes: “In the last 20 years, there has been a loss of farmland in the Rio Grande in Colorado, in New Mexico, in the Pecos River in Texas due to water shortages. … And that, of course, affects the livelihoods and the economies of all of those communities.”
In a recent study, Enrique Prunes of the World Wildlife Fund and other scientists found that about half the water used in the Rio Grande Basin is consumed faster than it can be replenished naturally, and agriculture drives most of the demand.
Prunes says that as the climate warms, the Rio Grande could get even drier.
Prunes: “Climate change is exacerbating this, and that’s the even more complicated part – how to adapt to a future with less water in a basin that is already … overused and overallocated.”
So Prunes says solutions, like water policy and management reforms and strategies for reducing water use on farms, are urgently needed.
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
