New Mexico Lake Level Update

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006 update:

Elephant Butte Lake has 472,082 acre feet at elevation 4,337.46 feet above benchmark. It has risen 1.7 inches and 1,763 a.f. in 24 hours and 4.8 inches and 5,030 a.f. in 71 hours. It's rising a bit more slowly with the cooler, drier weather of late, but still rising quite steadily. Rio Grande flow at San Acacia is 1,030 cubic feet per second (954 c.f.s. minimum and 1,230 c.f.s. maximum in the past 71 hours as of noon).

Heron Lake is at elevation 71,44.02 feet with 195,479 acre feet as of 10 a.m., Dec. 7, '06. It is down 1.2 inches and 393 acre feet in 24 hours and down 3.6 inches and 1,215 a.f. in 71 hours.


Monday Dec. 4, '06:
Elephant Butte Lake is up 1.4 inches and 1,492 acre feet in 24 hours.
It's also up 5,454 a.f. and 5.3 inches in 71 hours, and 28.52 feet above the summer low point. The lake rose about 5 feet in November, 4 feet in October, 2 feet in September, and 17 feet in August.

At the current rate, the year-end level should be around 4,340.3 feet or a bit more, with around 508,500 acre feet of water. Long Point may become an island again by February.

Elephant Butte Lake
Elev. (feet) . . . . Storage (acre feet) . . . Date
4,339.04 . . . . . . . 492,157 . . . . . . . Dec. 19 (1000)
4,337.46 . . . . . . . 472,082 . . . . . . . Dec. 7 (1200)
4,337.02 . . . . . . . 466,549 . . . . . . . Dec. 4 (0800)
4,334.82 . . . . . . . 439,541 . . . . . . . Nov. 20
4,333.54 . . . . . . . 424,254 . . . . . . . Nov. 13
4,332.14 . . . . . . . 407,850 . . . . . . . Nov. 6
4,331.24 . . . . . . . 397,510 . . . . . . . Oct. 31
4,327.10 . . . . . . . 351,800 . . . . . . . Sept. 30
4,325.18 . . . . . . . 331,550 . . . . . . . Aug. 31
4,308.50 . . . . . . . 183,870 . . . . . . . July 28 low point
4,339.88 . . . . . . . 503,030 . . . . . . . March 5 high point
4,334.06 . . . . . . . 430,410 . . . . . . . January 1, 2006

Note that the Butte is already recovered to three feet above its January 1 level. The good late-summer monsoonal rains compensated for the below-average spring runoff. The Butte is within three feet of its maximum level for the spring. The year-end level is likely to be at least as high as the March 5 high point during spring runoff.

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Heron Lake is releasing water gradually for the benefit of water contractors. It has gone down 1.2 inches and 431 acre feet in 24 hours, and 4 inches and 1,304 a.f. in 71 hours. The marina will likely touch bottom in late March and the cove floor will probably be bare mud, about a foot or so above the lake, sometime in April unless the spring runoff arrives early. The Rio Chama is flowing at 142 cubic feet per second (106 c.f.s. minimum, 275 maximum in 72 hours) but Willow Creek is frozen and is not supplying any water to Heron.

Heron LakeElev. (feet) . . . . Storage (acre feet) . . . Date
7,142.80 . . . . . . . 190,765 . . . . . . . Dec. 19 (1000)
7,144.33 . . . . . . . 196,694 . . . . . . . Dec. 4 (1000)
7,145.85 . . . . . . . 202,691 . . . . . . . Nov. 20
7,147.10 . . . . . . . 207,707 . . . . . . . Nov. 8
7,148.03 . . . . . . . 211,484 . . . . . . . Oct. 24
7,144.46 . . . . . . . 197,203 . . . . . . . Sept. 25
7,143.47 . . . . . . . 193,350 . . . . . . . Sept. 1
7,143.47 . . . . . . . 193,350 . . . . . . . Aug. 29
7,143.29 . . . . . . . 192,653 . . . . . . . July 5
7,143.26 . . . . . . . 192,535 . . . . . . . June 29
71,42.29 . . . . . . . 188,816 . . . . . . . June 4
7,141.09 . . . . . . . 184,270 . . . . . . . May 27
7,135.01 . . . . . . . 162,731 . . . . . . . May 2
7,133.93 . . . . . . . 158,684 . . . . . . . April 27
7,144.29 . . . . . . . 196,496 . . . . . . . Jan. 5

Other New Mexico Lakes:

El Vado Lake 64,376 a.f., up 259 a.f. in 71 hours, 219 c.f.s. outflow
Abiquiu Lake 153,607 a.f., up 112 a.f., 212 c.f.s. outflow
Cochiti Lake 48,414 a.f., up 241 a.f.

Rio Grande at Albuquerque, 910 c.f.s. flow (894 c.f.s. min., 1050 max.)
Rio Grande at San Acacia, 1130 cf.s. flow (1560 max.)
San Marcial Floodway, 213 c.f.s flow, (190 min., 292 max.)

Navajo Lake, 1,549,303 a.f., down 1,348 a.f. in 71 hours
Santa Rosa Lake, 79,047 a.f., down 63 a.f.
Sumner Lake, 25,828 a.f., up 333 a.f.
Brantley Lake, 14,981 a.f., up 345 a.f.
Ute Lake 201,000 a.f., stable
Eagle Nest Lake, 31,716 a.f., stable
Conchas Lake, 145,569 a.f., down 153 a,f.