RUNOFF

River’s on the rise

From Page A1

Ditch Association. “We have more problems in the ace­quias, with water overflowing the banks.”

She noted that mayordo­mos in charge of ditches must balance the amount of water in the acequia madre, stream and fields. At the height of irrigating season, streamflow below the point of diversion drops.

Michael Trujillo, interim emergency manager for Taos County, said Wednesday (May 7) that cool spring weather has decreased the chances of flooding around the coun­ty. If flooding does occur, he believes Arroyo Seco, Costilla and Amalia, and Pe-asco will bear the brunt of the overflow.

“Of course, a couple of good rains or a hot day will trigger the snowmelt and all bets are off,” said Trujillo.

If the weather holds, then this winter’s deep snowpack that thrilled skiers and ’board­ers will prove a boon to irri­gators, fishermen and rafters come spring. Snows above Taos built up to 175 percent more than 2006-2007, and just above the 30-year average.

R’o Grande on the rise

Along the R’o Grande, where rafting companies have already had a strong early season, fore­casters predict a crest of about 4,500 cubic-feet-per-sec­ond (cfs) in the Embudo area around early June — within normal flows and plenty for an exciting trip through the Taos Box or down the Racecourse below Pilar.

One important variable for R’o Grande flow is the actions of Colorado irrigators upstream. Under an interstate agree­ment between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, Colorado must send a certain percent­age of flow down the river dur­ing runoff season. In a good snow year, southern Colorado irrigators try to push as much water downstream before the growing season begins.

However, irrigation season in Colorado has begun, Harris said, which will moderate the flow for much of the rafting season. On Wednesday (May 7), the river reached 2,000 cfs — an “entertaining” level, according to a veteran rafter.

“You never know,” said Harris. “In 1988, we had an early runoff with a peak in March and, by April, Colorado had delivered all it had to. On the other hand, in 1995, we had 100 percent snowpack in May, and Colorado had to recalculate its delivery so that we peaked in July.”

For now, river-watchers and

mayordomos alike believe they are on track for a healthy runoff season.

But they all know that Mother Nature can change all that — in a single day.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.