Water Matters!
The Utton Transboundary Resources Center’s Water Matters! podcast looks at water and natural resources issues in New Mexico and beyond. Housed at the University of New Mexico School of Law, the Utton Transboundary Resources Center is a state-funded research and public service project that believes in the pursuit of well informed, collaborative solutions to our natural resource challenges. The Utton Transboundary Resources Center’s Sairis Perez-Gomez designed the podcast logo and wrote and performed our theme music and Student Research Assistant Francesca Glaspell produced this episode.
Rin Tara is a staff attorney specializing in water policy and governance at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center. They are primarily interested in questions of water management in the face of climate change. They have done work in riparian restoration, river connectivity, tribal water sovereignty, climate change adaptation, and water rights. They have authored several papers on topics related to the future of western water management.
John Fleck is Writer in Residence at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico School of Law; and Professor of Practice in Water Policy and Governance in the University of New Mexico Department of Economics. The former director of the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program, he is the author of four books on water in the west, including the forthcoming history of Albuquerque’s relationship with the Rio Grande – Ribbons of Green: The Rio Grande and the Making of a Modern American City.
Water Matters!
14: A “Super” El Niño is coming. What does it mean for New Mexico?
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Guest: Aidan Manning
This week Rin Tara and John Fleck are joined by Aidan Manning from New Mexico Wild’s Rivers and Waters Program to talk about El Niño and what it means for New Mexico’s weather and climate.
Dr. Manning explains how a shift in temperatures in the equatorial Pacific can have big impacts on the patterns of wet and dry weather, tipping the odds
Since Rin, John, and Aidan recorded this conversation, the forecasts have been updated. Odds of a moderate or stronger El Nino are up to a staggering 98% for the winter, with a 63% chance of a very strong event. But Dr. Manning points out the risk of misinterpreting what that means. El Niño tips the odds toward a wet winter across the southwest, but a stronger El Niño doesn’t necessarily translate to a wetter winter. And for the larger river basin communities New Mexico is a part of, El Niño generally doesn’t translate into odds of a wetter winter in the Upper Colorado River Basin, which is crucial for the West’s water supplies.
To follow the development of El Niño:
· NOAA’s El Niño/La Niña background
