Environmentalists are crying foul over a water exchange between the federal government and the city of Santa Fe.
The group WildEarth Guardians has sent a letter to the U.S. Interior Department, saying such transactions along the Rio Grande should be transparent and that policies need to be changed to allow for the river's flows to be protected.
The dispute stems from an agreement reached this fall between the Bureau of Reclamation and Santa Fe that cleared the way for water stored in El Vado Reservoir to be used by the city. They traded the water in El Vado with water already in Elephant Butte Reservoir to the south.
The group says the exchange meant no water would physically flow down the river.
Environmentalists have been fighting to keep the river flowing to benefit endangered species.
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