{"id":49705,"date":"2026-10-20T14:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=49705"},"modified":"2026-10-20T14:12:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:12:37","slug":"the-pecos-river-still-flows-but-for-how-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/the-pecos-river-still-flows-but-for-how-long\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pecos River Still Flows. But for How Long?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Water deals, decades of drought and a booming oilfield reshape life along a legendary New Mexico river.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story<\/a> was originally published at Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A flare stack operated by Novo Oil & Gas burns off natural gas near the Pecos River in southern New Mexico. Photos by Jerry Redfern for Capital & Main.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Johnny Reid has<\/strong> spent nearly all of his life on a couple of farms set in the few square miles between Loving, New Mexico, and the Pecos River. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very enjoyable life,\u201d he said, looking out over the tan and green Pecos Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This farm and others in the area are known for their high-quality alfalfa. His son drives the Reid family harvest \u2014 several times a week, 28 tons a trip \u2014 to horse breeders in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acres of deep-green alfalfa all but surround Reid as he stands in the shade of a hay barn on the eastern edge of his property. He tells stories of the occasional itinerant bobcat, coveys of quail and a herd of deer seen on the farm. \u201cWe would come down here at night and show them to our grandkids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or he used to. Noise and trucks have taken their toll on the deer. \u201cThey get hit on the highway a lot,\u201d Reid said. That busy highway, hidden behind a rise about a mile away, runs through the middle of the Permian Basin, the nation\u2019s most productive oilfield, which surrounds the Reid farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as if to prove the point about the noise, it\u2019s hard to hear Reid, even standing behind a 12-foot wall of hay bales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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