mexico

“We are finally able to do an event like this,” said Karlysue Pereyra, a third-generation mariachi. “Five, six, eight years ago, maybe we wouldn’t have been able to.”

Federal officials said Tuesday they will ease water cuts for Western states reliant on the Colorado River next year. Bountiful snowfall and rain last winter pulled much of the region out of drought this spring and raised water levels at key reservoirs.

More questions than answers are surfacing at a conference in Las Vegas about what to do about projected shortages of Colorado River water relied upon by seven U.S. states, Native American tribes and Mexico.

Colorado River tributaries serve relatively small portions of northwest and southwest New Mexico. But the basin’s water is essential for the state’s largest city: Albuquerque.

A small fraction of the Colorado River manages to reach Northern Mexico to irrigate its fields and provide for the daily needs of millions of residents. That supply is now more at risk than ever.

During the past two decades, pressure has intensified on the river as the driest 22-year stretch in the past 1,200 years has gripped the southwestern U.S. As water levels plummet, calls for reduced use have often been met with increased population growth.

Despite widespread recognition of the crisis, the states missed a deadline this week to propose cuts. And the government stopped short of imposing cuts on its own.

While some will have to make historic cuts, Utah leaders are still “fighting aggressively” for the state’s allocation of Colorado River water.

As the Colorado River shrinks, water managers in the basin are looking to the ocean. Desalination could add fresh water to a drying region.

The International Monarch Monitoring Blitz has begun. It documents migratory monarch butterfly sightings, and now that the butterfly is endangered, it’s more important than ever.

Utah water officials say they’re concerned about the move, and that it will diminish the voices of Colorado River Basin states.

Salt Lake City artist Galina Perova and Jacke Corbett had been on a mission to rescue relatives who had fled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.