The water wars. The Rio Grande

It happened in late October 2001. The mighty Rio Grande, storied river of cowboy lore, icon of the West, petered out before it reached the sea.

And the same thing happened the next year.

“A whole series of events contributed to the river drying up,” said Robert J. Edwards, a biologist at the University of Texas-Pan American who conducts research in the Rio Grande. “But the bottom line is, there are too many people using too much water.”