Reporting supported by the Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder . SANTA FE, N.M.—“Severe.“ “Critical.” “Dire.” “Challenging.” “Record-low.” Officials at the Rio Grande Compact Commission annual meeting Friday worked through the thesaurus to describe the conditions on the river that flows out of southwestern Colorado. Compact signatory states—Colorado, New Mexico and Texas—along with federal agencies that operate along the river presented their 2026 outlooks at the New Mexico Capitol in Santa Fe. The three states signed the Rio Grande Compact in 1938 to resolve disputes over water rights along the Rio Grande from its headwaters in Colorado to far West Texas. Farther downstream in Texas, from Presidio to the Gulf of Mexico, Rio Grande water is managed under separate frameworks. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines deliver the full story, for free. Our #1 newsletter ...