Update: The Water Utility confirms it is ash in the Rio Grande. Plus, I went out and looked myself. It’s ugly! John Stomp, the utility’s chief operating officer, told me he is confident the water treatment plant could clean ash out, but that he decided to shut down the plant anyway just to be cautious.
Previously: The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is shutting down its Rio Grande water intake after receiving citizen reports of possible ash in the river from the Las Conchas fire, spokesman David Morris said this afternoon.
The utility has no evidence yet that ash has reached the river flowing through Albuquerque, but it shutting down the intake in “an abundance of caution,” Morris said. Much of the watershed burned by the Las Conchas fire is above Cochiti Dam, which would make it hard for ash to reach Albuquerque, but some of the burned area is below Cochiti and has been subject to thunderstorm activity, Morris noted.
More in tomorrow’s newspaper.
-- Email the reporter at jfleck@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3916
