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It's Still Spring, And 19 Miles Of The Rio Grande Have Already Dried Up In New Mexico

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In this June 19, 2013 photo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists use a seine net to search for endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows in isolated pools in the riverbed near Socorro, N.M. Federal water managers said during a briefing Thursday, April 12, 2018, that portions of the Rio Grande have gone dry and biologists have started this year's minnow salvage operations. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP)
In this June 19, 2013 photo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists use a seine net to search for endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows in isolated pools in the riverbed near Socorro, N.M. Federal water managers said during a briefing Thursday, April 12, 2018, that portions of the Rio Grande have gone dry and biologists have started this year's minnow salvage operations. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP)

Since the 1990s, it's been common for the Rio Grande to dry up in stretches of New Mexico during the hottest months of the year. But water managers say poor snowpack in the mountains this winter has led to unusually dry conditions along the iconic river. Some areas have already gone dry, and state's largest reservoir is expected to be at just 5 percent capacity this summer.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with the Bureau of Reclamation's Carolyn Donnelly, who works in the Albuquerque office.

This segment aired on May 2, 2018.

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