Elephant Butte Releases Are Under Way

The US Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from Elephant Butte Reservoir this morning (Mon. 5/29/12) for irrigators in the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 in Texas and the Elephant Butte Irrigation District in New Mexico, plus a slug for farmers in Mexico. But there’s not much to work with.

“Because of the drought situation, we just haven’t been able to allocate much water,” said Bert Cortez, who oversees the releases from the Bureau’s El Paso office. The final allocation:

• Mexico: 12,275 acre feet
• EBID: 110,051 acre feet
• EP#1: 94,229

Meanwhile, upstream, the Bureau has been releasing water from storage in El Vado Reservoir on the Rio Chama to keep flows in the Rio Grande high enough to reach all the way to the upper end of Elephant Butte. Under Endangered Species Act rules, the agencies that manage the river are required to keep it wet all the way to Elephant Butte through June 15 to protect spawning habitat for the Rio Grande silvery minnow. After June 15, expect the lower stretches of the river, south of Socorro, to begin drying.