As New Mexico’s state legislators ready for the 2026 session, constituents can weigh in on whether rivers are a priority.

New study shows that 85 percent of the water used in New Mexico from the Rio Grande system is ‘fundamentally unsustainable.’ That doesn’t mean there isn’t water for the river itself, however.

New Mexico’s rivers lack rights to their own waters.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Tricia Snyder says the state has useful tools in place. They just need to be better organized. And better funded.

For a few days in July 2022, the Rio Grande dried in Albuquerque. Then, this summer, the Rio Grande through New Mexico’s largest city dried again — for a total of about 50 days spread over six unique drying events from mid-July through mid-September.

I first interviewed hydrologist Dagmar Llewelyn about river drying 23 years ago, and at the time of this recent conversation, we’d just spent two days in a workshop at the University of New Mexico, “Future Scenarios Planning for Drought and River Drying in the Middle Rio Grande.” This is an edited excerpt of one part of our conversation along the river.

It’s mid-November. And my home river feels alive.

After the dry and disconnected conditions of the summer — when silence reigned in the sandy riverbed of the Middle Rio Grande — sandhill cranes, mallards and wood ducks, cormorants, Canada geese, herons, and crows fill the runway above the river.

It is messy and gorgeous and far from perfect.