The Upper Rio Grande: Colorado encompasses headwaters from the Rocky Mountains that feed into the northernmost parts of the Rio Grande. Each year during the spring, as temperatures rise, snow from the mountains melts and drains into tributaries of the Rio Grande. This creates an annual spring time "pulse" for the Rio Grande, where a large influx of freshwater enters the river and flows downstream into New Mexico. People in both the US and Mexico depend on this pulse to provide enough water to their communities or farming, drinking water, and municipal uses.
