Publication
2018 RiverEyes Monitoring Report
URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/McKenna_2018_2018-RiverEyes-Monitoring-Report.pdf
Date: 2018/12/21
Author(s): McKenna C.
Publication: Prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Prepared by GeoSystems Analysis, Inc., 12 p.
Abstract:
AJAC Enterprises (AJAC) was contracted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to conduct daily river monitoring and reporting during 2018 as part of a cooperative interagency effort to document channel drying in the Middle Rio Grande (MRG). The monitoring effort verifies compliance with the 2016 Biological Opinion related to Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Non-Federal Water Management and Maintenance Activities on the Middle Rio Grande, specifically Reasonable and Prudent Measure 4, and Terms and Conditions 3.2, 9.1 and 9.2. Field reconnaissance observations were relayed to an interagency water management team and, particularly when channel intermittency was detected; reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to support endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Hyboganthus amarus) rescue and relocation activities. GeoSystems Analysis, Inc. (GSA) was subcontracted by AJAC to assist with project reporting and provide training and technical support on the project.
The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) maintains a large network of stream flow monitoring stations throughout the MRG that publish real-time, provisional streamflow volumes to the internet (e.g. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nm/nwis/current/?type=flow). Field reconnaissance within specific segments of the MRG is contractually required when reported flows are below 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the USGS gage near San Acacia, New Mexico (NM; 08354900), and/or below 80 cfs at the Bosque Farms, NM, gage (08331160). During 2018, stream flows fell below these thresholds beginning in late-March. From this point forward, the monitoring team closely tracked current flow conditions at the San Acacia and Bosque Farms gages through lateOctober, and field reconnaissance was completed on a near daily basis during this period.