近距离内射合集

For the first time in months, water is flowing again in the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

It arrived late Wednesday and soon reached the banks but won鈥檛 outlast the weekend.

It is not the normal seasonal ebb and flow of a parched waterway, as state and local agencies purposely released the 650 million gallons to gather data and study the water鈥檚 effects on the bosque and aquifer after an extended drying out.

The move comes as the state, and Albuquerque area in particular, faces a historic drought and its hottest year to date 鈥� with the city turning to its aquifer for drinking water and a die-off of trees in the bosque unseen in recent years.

On Monday, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, in partnership with Audubon Southwest and the Interstate Stream Commission, among other agencies, released the 2,000 acre-feet from the Abiquiu Reservoir.

Water Rights Program Manager Diane Agnew called it 鈥渁 first and one-time release.鈥� She said the flows will taper off Saturday and likely won鈥檛 push too far past the Rio Bravo bridge.

鈥淭he question of this research too is how far will this volume go? Will it get to Rio Bravo, or will it get to the Isleta diversion?鈥� she said. 

Agnew said alarm bells rang when they had to turn off the San Juan鈥揅hama Drinking Water Treatment Plant in Albuquerque in late April. Last year, that didn鈥檛 happen until mid-June.

鈥淲e've been looking at the extent and duration of drying, and have been trying to understand what it looks like when flows come back in, as irrigation tapers, and what that means for where we can start our plants,鈥� Agnew said. 

But that wasn鈥檛 the only reason.

Another agency assisting in the release, Audubon Southwest, had found a substantial die-back of the bosque, stressing cottonwood trees and the wildlife that depends on them.

鈥淭hat sparked a conversation about trying to do a simulated river, or rain event, where we would release water 鈥� and it would meet this multipurpose need of environmental flows for the bosque, and then we could collect the data that we've been wanting,鈥� Agnew said. 

Paul Tashjian, director of Freshwater Conservation for Audubon Southwest, said the organization has never seen a dieback of the bosque like this. Even in years when the Rio Grande dried up, the trees stood strong.

With 90 days of a dry riverbed in 2026, Tashjian said 鈥渢his is by far the worst.鈥�

鈥淲hat we are seeing this year, it took us all by surprise,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y hope is that we have time to save this forest in some form. We're going to lose trees, there's no doubt about it, but we still have time to try to figure out how to keep it together.鈥�

While it was too early to quantify the damage, Tashjian said younger cottonwoods 鈥渉ave looked dead for weeks鈥� and the towering trees of the picturesque Cottonwood Gallery forest look like 鈥渢hey're heading towards mortality.鈥�

Tashjian said the water release could 鈥渋mprove the odds of trees that are sort of on the edge.鈥� Meanwhile, he said the invasive plants like salt cedar and Russian olive may thrive.

The worst die-off, he said, is being seen from south of Bernalillo to where the wastewater treatment plant pushes out water south of Rio Bravo, and the treated wastewater has kept the river 鈥渧erdant and alive鈥� to Isleta.

The die-off doesn鈥檛 just affect the trees, but the birds and animals that use them.

鈥淲e have other data that shows that in the dry parts of the river there's far fewer birds and species, than places where there actually is flowing water,鈥� Tashjian said. 

Hot year

The water release comes as Albuquerque sees its hottest year to date on record.

Randall Hergert, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the average temperature so far this year, about 65 degrees, is 3 degrees higher than the record seen in 2012.

While that average will change by year鈥檚 end, he said the city has shattered the record average temperatures for the month of August and summer 鈥� which spans June through August 鈥� at 82.5 and 81 degrees, respectively. Hergert said both previous records were set in 2012.

This year, he said the month of March caused the most upheaval, with an average high of around 61 degrees, compared with the previous high of around 54 degrees set in 2017. 鈥淢arch was so warm 鈥� it was actually warmer than April by over a degree,鈥� Hergert said.

With records dating back to 1892, Hergert said 14 out of the 18 hottest years have happened in the past three decades.

鈥淭he temperatures are warming for the last good while now, at least quarter century, dating back earlier than that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t has been getting warmer, it's going to keep getting warmer.鈥�

As far as drought, Hergert said the Albuquerque area has been 鈥渁bysmal鈥� with not much to show for a monsoon season along much of the Rio Grande Valley. Hergert said the Sunport 鈥� which averages over 3 inches a season 鈥� has seen just under an inch and a half of rain, tied for the ninth driest.

He said the lack of rain has pushed much of Albuquerque, along with North Central and Northeast parts of the Rio Grande Valley from extreme to 鈥渆xceptional鈥� drought, the most severe category the drought monitor has.

Though an El Ni帽o weather system is expected to bring above-average precipitation this year, Hergert cautioned that high temperatures into the colder months may mean more rain than snow, with less snowpack to depend on. 

鈥淭hat'll be the wild card that we'll all be watching this winter,鈥� he said.

Matthew Reisen is a senior reporter for the Journal. Reach him at mreisen@abqjournal.com.