Albuquerque, N.M. • Environmentalists are challenging a court ruling over whether water from the Rio Grande is properly accounted for and being used in beneficial ways as it flows through New Mexico’s most populated region.
They say the state's top water manager needs to do more to reduce use in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, but irrigation officials say they're already doing the best they can as years of drought have strained resources.
The latest federal drought map shows the driest area covers portions of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. That includes the headwaters of the Rio Grande in the southern Colorado mountains.