Water Matters!

About Water Matters!

The Utton Transboundary Resources Center’s Water Matters! podcast looks at water and natural resources issues in New Mexico and beyond. Housed at the University of New Mexico School of Law, the Utton Transboundary Resources Center is a state-funded research and public service project that believes in the pursuit of well informed, collaborative solutions to our natural resource challenges. The Utton Transboundary Resources Center’s Sairis Perez-Gomez designed the podcast logo and wrote and performed our theme music and Student Research Assistant Francesca Glaspell produced this episode. Rin Tara is a staff attorney specializing in water policy and governance at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center. They are primarily interested in questions of water management in the face of climate change. They have done work in riparian restoration, river connectivity, tribal water sovereignty, climate change adaptation, and water rights. They have authored several papers on topics related to the future of western water management. John Fleck is Writer in Residence at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico School of Law; and Professor of Practice in Water Policy and Governance in the University of New Mexico Department of Economics. The former director of the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program, he is the author of four books on water in the west, including the forthcoming history of Albuquerque’s relationship with the Rio Grande – Ribbons of Green: The Rio Grande and the Making of a Modern American City.

Publisher

Utton Transboundary Resources Center

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Apr 2025

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026

   Water Update (10/14/26)

   Preparing for what we hope will be a wet winter While the aftereffects of Septembers flooding have left many New Mexico communities still digging out, the water supply impacts after a very dry year have been substantial. In this week’s Water Update, Rin Tara and John Fleck talk about a greening bosque along New Mexico’s Middle Rio Grande and a boost to New Mexico’s Rio Grande Compact outlook after what had been a dismal year. In other news: Free entry to New Mexico State Par...

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Water Update (09/23/26)

   The Rains Return On this week’s episode, Rin Tara and John Fleck talk about Rin’s trip down Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River (totally work related!) while John stayed home and obsessed over weather radar and river gage readings as the Rio Grande, dry along large stretches through Central New Mexico for much of the summer, finally reconnected. To understand Cataract Canyon, check out the Returning Rapids ProjectTaos tightens water conservation measuresWednesday, Sept. 23, at the Gui...

3. 

   18 Sept 2026

   17: Understanding the History Behind How We Manage the Colorado River

   Guest: Eric Kuhn “We need to understand the history.” - Eric Kuhn This week Rin Tara and John Fleck are joined on Water Matters by their longtime friend and collaborator Eric Kuhn, arguably the preeminent historian of the intersection between Colorado River hydrology and the evolution of the institutions developed to manage it. Their subject is the arcane but now critically important issues of the Colorado River Basin’s “Upper Basi...

Who has been a guest on Water Matters!

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Stephanie Russo Baca
• Don Bustos
• Enrique Romero
• Craig Allen
• Paul Tashjian

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

913,373

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

8

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

32

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