The subleties of the groundwater-surface water connection

Laura Paskus has a nice piece over at KUNM on her visit to the Rio Grande with University of New Mexico biology/water guru Cliff Dahm. She really nicely, graphically, captures the way river water and groundwater are connected, a critical issue for long term water management in New Mexico, but especially during this year of drought:

Dahm points to a “backwater” – a puddle the length of a truck. “Here’s an area that clearly the groundwater is seeping in, couple different locations, starting to produce a little bit of flow. It’s very slow as you can see.”

It’s fed by a trickle of water coming from beneath the ground. The puddle isn’t muddy like the river. Instead, the water is clear. Like a bathtub ring, green algae circles the edge of the puddle and provides food for bugs and fish. The groundwater, river water, algae, fish, birds: everything is connected. Including the trees towering above the bank.