Irrigation season ended in the Rincon, Mesilla, and El Paso Valleys several days ago as the gates at Caballo Dam were closed. One of the shortest seasons in memory.
Caballo Lake currently sits at 8% of Capacity (36% of Normal), and Elephant Butte 4.7% of Capacity (11% of Normal).
We've been here before. Lake levels are similar to what was observed in the 1960s and 1970s, and we were much lower back in the 1950s. The lake was drained to just 9,900 acre-feet in August 1954, or just 0.5% of its capacity at the time. Legal fights ensued as local governments feared the drained lake would become a public health hazard. This occurred just 12 years after the lake hit its all-time maximum of 2,302,800 acre-feet in June 1942.
The long-term chart for Caballo is attached here as well, for completeness. But Caballo is tied to EB and a few seasonal streams coming off the Black Range, and doesn't show the longer term trends. Instead, it's a rather erratic graph showing the ups and downs of individual irrigation seasons, though the very wet period in the 1980s and mid-1990s still manages to show through.
Caballo's role in flood prevention shouldn't be understated. Despite Elephant Butte's construction, the Rio Grande flooded severely in 1925 even in El Paso, due to heavy rain over the Black Range and the Rincon Valley. Caballo Dam, constructed between 1936 and 1938, catches runoff from about 1300 square miles of drainage.
Radar
Weather Map
Satellite
Follow us on X
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on YouTube
EPZ RSS Feed