The El Vado dam, vital for Albuquerque’s water supply, has been out of commission for three years due to structural issues.
Without the dam, farmers and the city rely on finite groundwater, threatening sustainable water management.
Repair efforts are stalled, and alternative water storage solutions are slow to develop.
Key quote:
“We need some sort of storage. If we don’t get a big monsoon this summer, if you don’t have a well, you won’t be able to water.”
— Mark Garcia, local farmer
Why this matters:
Aging infrastructure and climate change challenge water sustainability in the West. The dam's collapse could signal deeper issues within the region's water management infrastructure, potentially linked to climate change. With increasing temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns, the strain on existing water systems is becoming more evident.
On the southern edge of New Mexico’s largest city is a Hispanic neighborhood that used to be made up of a patchwork of family farms and quiet streets, but industrial development has closed in over the decades, bringing with it pollution.
For the first time in four decades, America’s fifth-longest river went dry in Albuquerque last week. Habitat for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow — a shimmery, pinky-sized native fish — went with it.
One of the largest wildfires in New Mexico’s history is raging through a region where the culture stretches back longer than the United States has existed.
New research shows that summer temperatures can vary as much as 20 degrees across different parts of a city, with poor and minority neighborhoods often bearing the brunt.
