Home » May 2011 Southwest Climate Outlook » New Mexico Reservoir Levels
Recent Conditions
Published May 26, 2011

New Mexico Reservoir Levels

 (through 4/30/11)
Data Source(s): National Water and Climate Center

Total reservoir storage in New Mexico declined by 24,700 acre-feet in April, primarily as the result of an 85,300 acre-foot decrease in Elephant Butte Reservoir storage. Pecos River Basin storage declined by 9,300 acre-feet during the last month (reservoirs 9–12 in Figure 7); storage in New Mexico’s Canadian River Basin reservoirs also declined (reservoirs 14–15). Storage in Navajo Reservoir increased during April and exceeds the long-term average.

The declines in streamflow and reservoir storage in the Rio Grande Basin are affecting irrigators in southern New Mexico (Las Cruces Bulletin, April 29). Southern New Mexico farmers have been hit by a double-whammy of decreased snowpack in the southern Colorado and northern New Mexico mountains that feed the Rio Grande, and a lack of winter precipitation locally. As a result farmers are supplementing irrigation through expensive groundwater pumping and decreasing the number of acres they will farm this year.

New Mexico reservoir levels for may as a percent of capacity
Notes:

The map gives a representation of current storage levels for reservoirs in New Mexico. Reservoir locations are numbered within the blue circles on the map, corresponding to the reservoirs listed in the table. The cup next to each reservoir shows the current storage level (blue fill) as a percent of total capacity. Note that while the size of each cup varies with the size of the reservoir, these are representational and not to scale. Each cup also represents last year’s storage level (dotted line) and the 1971–2000 reservoir average (red line).

The table details more exactly the current capacity level (listed as a percent of maximum storage). Current and maximum storage levels are given in thousands of acre-feet for each reservoir. One acre-foot is the volume of water sufficient to cover an acre of land to a depth of 1 foot (approximately 325,851 gallons). On average, 1 acre-foot of water is enough to meet the demands of 4 people for a year. The last column of the table list an increase or decrease in storage since last month. A line indicates no change.

These data are based on reservoir reports updated monthly by the National Water and Climate Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). For additional information, contact Wayne Sleep, wayne.sleep@nm.usda.gov.

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