Farmers Depending On Elephant Butte Reservoir Water To Get 3.5 Inches For Whole Growing Season

[hatrack]

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The city of Santa Fe’s two municipal reservoirs are at 33 percent capacity this month, compared to 60 percent last June and 44 percent two years ago. Conchas Lake, Lake Avalon, Brantley Lake and Sumner are effectively empty. Small towns like Wagon Mound are worried about declining well levels.

Along Interstate 25 between Glorieta and Rowe, large ponderosa pines are dying. More conifers along trails on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near the Santa Fe ski basin also are turning brown.

Southern New Mexico farmers who depend on water from Elephant Butte reservoir to irrigate fields will receive 3.5 inches of water per acre for the entire 2013 growing season. On June 12, all 33 New Mexico counties were declared eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster funds due to drought.

According to the latest Drought Monitor map, about 82 percent of the state is in extreme to exceptional drought, including all of Santa Fe County. The map is compiled and released each Thursday by a coalition of federal agencies involved with agriculture, weather and soil conservation. According to the U.S. Drought Outlook report, drought in the Southwest is expected to persist or get worst through the end of July.

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http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/article_179106f2-dad6-540d-9f1c-a2d036682417.html

[mattvermont]

1. I was there 3 winters ago

and that reservoir was already half empty. I do not believe it will ever recover.