The nonprofit group American Rivers released its annual list of the country’s most endangered waterways today. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, at the top of the list are the rivers of New Mexico.
A Supreme Court decision last year narrowed the number of rivers and wetlands that quality for Clean Water Act protections. Those protections now only apply to “relatively permanent” streams, eliminating many desert waterways that flow only during the rainy season. American Rivers says the ruling leaves 96 percent of New Mexico’s streams vulnerable to pollution.
Also on their top ten list is the Santa Cruz River in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, which the group says is threatened by the same rollbacks of clean water protections and by water scarcity and climate change.
The annual list focuses on rivers that are at a “crossroads,” with a decision coming in the next year that the public can influence. In New Mexico, the state is building its own water quality program. In Arizona, environmental groups are advocating for a national wildlife refuge along the Santa Cruz River.
