Disappearing Rio Grande Blog

For more than 3,000 years the Rio Grande has been the lifeblood of the valleys and civilizations it flowed through. It recharged fields and forests and provided safe passage through an inhospitable desert. Now, cities and farms are sucking it dry and a warming climate is making it evaporate faster. What is left is hidden behind a border fence and fought over by the states and countries that agreed to share it. The river’s future has never been more uncertain. To understand the effects and evaluate possible solutions, reporter Colin McDonald and photojournalist Erich Schlegel are traveling the length of the Rio Grande. Along the way, they will interview and spend time with those who depend on and control the river, take photos and videos and catalog the chemistry and biology of the river from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Their work will be uploaded from the banks of the river via satellite and shared here as they spend seven months on this 1,900-mile journey.