The San Luis Valley sits atop one of the most over-drawn aquifer systems in North America. A water district wants to approve 50 new agricultural wells. Six stakeholders — a water manager, an insurer, a youth observer, a conservation biologist, a Ute elder, and the system itself — each see a different facet of the same crisis.
ⓘ The Rio Grande headwaters, the aquifer's multi-decade decline, the Southern Ute nation, and the crane migration are real. Marcus, Amanda, Zoe, Ana and Joseph are invented personas — same distinction carries through the living watershed view.