Rio Grande reservoir storage under severe restrictions
Consumption would add more to New Mexico’s sizeable water debt
Reservoir storage along the Rio Grande will be severely restricted this spring and summer because of New Mexico’s large water debt to downstream users and extreme drought conditions.
“The situation is dire all the way up and down the (river) system,” said Rolf Schmidt-Petersen, director of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission.
The state is currently under Article VII restrictions of the Rio Grande Compact, meaning no water can be stored in El Vado Reservoir or other upstream reservoirs when water levels at Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs drop below 400,000 acre-feet.
Elephant Butte has dropped below that threshold many times during the last 15 years.
But a water debt of 96,300 acre-feet, or more than 31 billion gallons, complicates matters.
New Mexico must retain that amount of water in its reservoirs before storing any Rio Grande water for other uses.
Schmidt-Petersen told commissioners on Wednesday that this particular mix of reservoir restraints hasn’t happened since the 1970s.
“It means that after the snowmelt runoff that we get, we won’t have significant amounts of stored water available for release to meet demands in the middle valley,” he said. “We’ll be largely dependent on the inflows that come from Colorado or our upstream mountain ranges, and any precipitation that occurs in the system.”
New Mexico’s current water debt situation is largely the result of an emergency water release in July 2020. State Engineer John D’Antonio received permission from Colorado and Texas to free up 12 billion gallons
of water from El Vado Reservoir for Middle Rio Grande farmers and fish instead of saving it for a fall release to Elephant Butte.
D’Antonio sent a letter on Monday to the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Albuquerque office and the City of Santa Fe, directing the entities not to store Rio Grande water in El Vado, Nichols or McClure reservoirs.
“The stark reality is that, should Rio Grande water be stored this spring and released for consumption above Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico’s Compact accrued debit could significantly increase in 2022,” D’Antonio said. “That is a prospect I seek to avoid.”
State water agencies and local irrigation districts could face more restrictions if the water debt grows to 200,000 acre-feet.
Reclamation will still be allowed to store a “reasonable amount” of water to irrigate some land for the six Middle Rio Grande pueblos, which have prior and paramount water rights.