copyright 2008 by George Johnson
Ramsey Canyon, Arizona. by George Johnson, copyright 2008
1. Retrofit Arithmetic (and Rainbarrel Economics)
2. The San Juan-Chama Shell Game
3. The Case of the Disappearing Aquifer
4. The Creative Hydrology of Suerte del Sur
5. The City, the County, and a Water Tax Revolt
6. Water Numerology at City Hall
(Our story thus far)
7. The Woman at Otowi Gauge
8. "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
9. The Las Campanas Connection
(Our story continues)
10. The Engineering Solution
July 21, 2008
52. A Walk Up the Rio Mora
It's usually just the Arroyo Mora, a dry, picturesque ditch that drains much of the eastern face of Atalaya Mountain into the Santa Fe River. But by Sunday morning, with all the rain, it had become a little river, and I was determined to find its source.
Parking at the Wilderness Gate trailhead, I followed the flow upward. Half an hour later, after climbing past a reborn waterfall, I reached the spot where the water began, barely seeping from the ground. In the local dialect these springs are called ojos -- eyes -- spots where subterranean water sees through to the sky. They form and disappear depending on the rainfall. I could see from the wet dirt that the stream had recently extended almost to the mountain top.
When Mora Canyon became too steep, I scrambled up a slope to where I knew I'd meet Atalaya trail. Storm clouds were beginning to gather but I decided to go higher. I haven't felt like doing much of anything since the burglary, but as I walked my brain reengaged and Santa Fe and its troubles seemed far behind.
The illusion didn't last. Halfway up the switchbacks I looked to the right and saw that some jackass had tagged a tree with his marker -- the first time I've seen vandalism so high on the mountain. Farther up the trail, the same scrawl was on the side of a Forest Service sign.
As I scraped off what I could with my pocket knife, I thought about the young convict, sentenced earlier this month to 200 weeks of community service for defacing downtown buildings with red spraypaint on Valentine's Day. According to the New Mexican he was also named to a committee to advise the city on establishing legal outlets for this sociopathic behavior, an outgrowth of a hip-hop subculture in which you are encouraged to advertise yourself even though you have accomplished nothing. The Valentine vandal, we're told, has renounced his crimes and is embarking on a career as a waiter trying to be an artist. Good luck.
At a favorite vantage point I looked southward at a different kind of vandalism -- the road scar plowed halfway up Atalaya by developer Wally Chapman at the behest of Shirley Maclaine. (This was the incident that inspired the first run of The Santa Fe Review.) We were assured at the time that the gash would be erased with new plantings, but 15 years later it is as ugly as ever, an avenue for weeds and erosion.
The top of Atalaya, with its granite outcroppings and park-like stands of pine, may be my favorite place on earth. I paused long enough at the summit to take in the view. Then, skirting the edge of the watershed, I headed down the undeveloped back trail above Santa Fe Canyon. Despite the healthy monsoon season, the city still refuses to release any water into the river. (The flow you see downtown is from Arroya Mora and other tributaries below Nichols Dam.) Fixing the river, we're told, will have to await the Buckman Diversion. Buckman, of course, is supposed to be the great panacea -- the solution to all the city and the county's water problems. But it is seeming more each year like a pipedream.
Kiera Hay reported in Sunday's Journal that Albuquerque wants to take back the 1,600 annual acre-feet of San Juan-Chama water it has been leasing to Las Campanas, the luxury enclave northwest of town. A spokesman for the development played down the impact -- they'd get the water elsewhere. But they will be competing with Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Española. There is only so much to go around.
In a recent New Mexican story, Julie Ann Grimm uncovered another problem: the electricity needed to run the Buckman operation -- filtering the mud from the water and pumping it 1,100 feet uphill to Santa Fe -- will increase the city government's energy costs by as much as 70 percent. The city has pledged to cut its carbon footprint in half over the next five years. But it is starting with a giant step in the opposite direction.
Lost in these thoughts I wandered off the trail and had to bushwhack the rest of the way down the mountain. Climbing through a barbwire fence, I heard the Rio Mora again and followed it back toward my car. A man in an Audi convertible was waiting across the street, idling his engine, ready to take my parking spot.
The Tom Ford Webcam (stolen July 7, 2008, back online July 17)
The Andrew and Sydney Davis Webcam (temporarily offline)
Who Owns the Plaza? (this may take a minute or so to load)
A Stroll Along Shirley Maclaine Boulvevard
The Santa Fe Review
In Patagonia
More links:
See the current flow of the Santa Fe River above McClure Reservoir with the USGS automated gauge.
The Otowi gauge shows the flow of the Rio Grande north of Santa Fe.
Santa Fe water information, a collection of documents and links
