13: Managing the Water in a Very Tough Year

Guest: Anne MarkenAnne Marken gets up every morning and looks at snowpack data and river flow numbers. As the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District’s River Operations and Telemetry Manager, it’s Marken’s job to marshal the Rio Grande’s precious water through New Mexico’s Middle Valley, juggling a dizzying array of competing needs, interests and values.In this week’s Water Matters, Anne talks with Rin Tara and John Fleck about what that means in this most difficult of water years, with declining river flows, little upstream reservoir storage to make up for the snowpack’s shortcomings, and one of the warmest springs on record.If you’re interested in the latest on river flows, you can do no better than Anne’s monthly report to the Conservancy District Board. In this episode of Water Matters, Anne talks about how she thinks about managing water in a difficult year like this.If you’re interested in more information:·       Irrigators information meetings May 28 – June 24·       MRGCD’s real time river and irrigation system flow dataAnd, to quote Marken’s monthly request, with which she ends her report to her board, “Pray for rain.”