It’s not the first time it’s happened. But the forces that have killed the river this spring aren’t likely to abate. What’s happening now could become a regular occurrence. | MarfaRadio
In April and May, the Rio Grande has gone dry in miles of Big Bend National Park, including at Mariscal Canyon, at the bend’s southernmost tip.
In mid-April, Skiles traveled to Mariscal Canyon, at Big Bend’s southern tip. The photos he captured there — of a bone-dry riverbed, and a few isolated pools — alarmed and outraged devotees of the park. “I think it’s primarily climate driven,” Dean said, “but once you add the layer of human infrastructure on top of that, it just makes things worse. If climatic conditions don’t change, I could see the Big Bend reach of the Rio Grande being extremely low — at least in the winter months — for a long time to come.”
That ancient pattern changed in the 1870s, when irrigated agriculture boomed on the river, from Colorado to El Paso. The first stream records — from the early 20th century — show that the river went dry most years below El Paso.Since then, the Rio Conchos has been the primary source of water for the Big Bend Rio Grande. And, of course, communities and farmers in Mexico make their own demands of the Conchos.