Technical Report

2020 RiverEyes Monitoring Report

URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/McKenna_2020_2020-RiverEyes-Monitoring-Report.pdf

Date: 2020/12/17

Author(s): McKenna C.

Publication: Prepared for Bureau of Reclamation by GeoSystems Analysis, Inc., 16 p.

Abstract:

AJAC Enterprises (AJAC) was contracted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to conduct daily river monitoring and reporting during 2020 as part of a cooperative interagency effort to document the extent and duration of channel drying in the Middle Rio Grande (MRG). The monitoring effort (referred to as “RiverEyes”) verifies important compliance elements within the 2016 Biological Opinion, as it relates 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. When flow discharges fell below key thresholds known to increase flow intermittency risk, field observations were relayed to an interagency water management team and, particularly when flow intermittency was detected, reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to support endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow (Hybognathus amarus) rescue and relocation activities. GeoSystems Analysis, Inc. (GSA) was subcontracted by AJAC to assist with project reporting, protocol development, crew training, data management, and technical support.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a network of streamflow monitoring stations throughout the MRG that publish real-time, provisional streamflow volumes to the internet (e.g. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nm/...). Per the contractual agreement with Reclamation, field reconnaissance within specific high-risk segments of the MRG was conducted when streamflow discharge was below 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) at USGS 08354900 Rio Grande Floodway at San Acacia, New Mexico (NM), or below 80 cfs at USGS 08331160 Rio Grande Near Bosque Farms, NM. During 2020, stream flows fell below this threshold in the San Acacia Reach beginning on April 3 and the monitoring team conducted regular field reconnaissance from April 5 through October 31. The Bosque Farms gage fell below the 80 cfs threshold for the first time on June 8 and crews started regular monitoring in the Isleta Reach on the following day, June 9. Like the San Acacia Reach, monitoring officially ended in the Isleta Reach on October 31. Also under contract with Reclamation, AJAC pumped supplemental water into the Rio Grande mainstem near the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge (BdA) South Boundary from May 1, 2020, through August 26, 2020, except for a period between July 14, 2020, to August 1, 2020, while a pump study was completed. During most of May, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) also pumped between 20 and 40 cfs into the mainstem through a new solar-powered pumping facility at the former Neil Cupp pump site, near river mile (RM) 90.

Water was extremely limited in 2020, which triggered a series of unique events. The MRGCD board voted to end the irrigation season nearly a month early, so irrigation ceased on October 5, 2020. Emergency releases of water in storage were required to maintain continuous streamflow in Albuquerque. Also, interstate agreements were negotiated to extend the irrigation season and minimize channel drying. Regular coordination was required between water management agencies to balance water delivery to various users while also minimizing negative biological impacts to the river corridor.