TERLINGUA, Texas, May 22 (UPI) -- Stretches of the Rio Grande —- one of the most famous rivers in the American Southwest —- are drying up in the Big Bend National park for the first time in 50 years, park officials said Thursday.
A lingering drought, upstream diversions for irrigation and municipal uses, and a reduced snow pack in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado are blamed for the intermittent dry conditions, said David Elkowitz, a spokesman for the remote park in the southwest corner of Texas. "We're hopeful we will get a rainy season this year," he said.
About 118 miles of the Rio Grande passes through the park and the river stopped running early in May in some locations, Elkowitz said. Occasional showers have brought the flow back to life momentarily only to dry up again after a few days. The desert area usually gets heavy rains starting in July.
"Although the river has been dwindling for years, this is an event of historical proportions," Park Suprintendent Frank J. Deckert said recently. "In places, the river bed is now a series of stagnant pools separated by reaches of bone-dry gravel beds."
Park officials are concerned about fish and other natural life that depend on the river as well as the tourism industry in the area. A number of outfitters and stores make a living off rafting trips through the steep river canyons and they are now forced to find alternate routes for their customers.
Deckert said the dwindling Rio Grande also creates a challenge for Mexicans villagers on the other side of the river who depend on the river for farming, food and in some cases drinking water.
Deckert said the Rio Grande "a cultural symbol" linked in history to the American Southwest. "The very idea that it could cease to exist should reinvigorate our efforts to ensure its preservation," he said.
The 2,000-mile-long Rio Grande is a source of irrigation, municipal drinking water and recreation from its headwaters in southern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico agreed earlier this year under a 1944 treaty to release more water into the river from its reservoirs to aid irrigation in South Texas.
