ELEPHANT BUTTE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a startling sight at one of New Mexico’s most beloved lakes, where the water level has visitors concerned. While park officials say Elephant Butte Reservoir is prone to drying, they’re warning visitors to be extra cautious.
“Well, it was actually really sad to see how low the water has gotten,” said Natalie Carbajal, a visitor from El Paso.
“Maybe we can’t go as fast because we’re looking out for sand and stuff,” said Keira Lowe, a visitor from Albuquerque.
Story continues below
- New Mexico Strange: When prophetic dreams come true: New Mexico local speaks on visions of 9/11
- Food: Traditional, glamourous, casual: A look at Albuquerque’s tea rooms
- News: VIDEO: Albuquerque officers catch suspect who thought he was meeting an underage girl
- Trending: Cicada killer wasps spotted in Albuquerque. Here’s what to know
Visitors to Elephant Butte say they’re shocked to see just how little water there is in the lake. However, Park Superintendent Jonathin Horsley says these low water levels are actually normal.
“The way the lake usually works, so we are fed by a little bit of monsoonal rain, predominantly fed by snow melt in Colorado, so it all depends on what Colorado gets for snow. As we know, we’ve had not very good snow the last few year,s so the lake has been lower,” said Jonathin Horsley, Parks Superintendent for Elephant Butte Park.
Horsley says this time last year, the lake was at about 13% full, while today it’s sitting at 3.7% or just under 74,000 acre feet of water. Elephant Butte is also a reservoir, so water gets pumped out for Hatch Valley agriculture and is also distributed to Colorado, Texas, and Mexico.
Just last week, Elephant Butte was still getting water drawn out, and it was losing between five and six inches of water every day, that’s about 3 feet of water in the entire week. But now, Horsley says water is no longer being drained, leaving plenty of water for people to come and enjoy.
Still, park officials ask people to use extra caution as there’s less lake surface for boaters and to watch out for shallow, muddy areas. Adding they’ve already rescued about twenty boats that have gotten stuck since Memorial Day weekend. “We have had to go out. Our officers have had to go out and rescue boats that were stuck in that. So we just ask boaters who are on the water to please know where those markers are and please obey them,” said Horsley.
Despite the low water levels, visitors say they’re making the most of what there is. “I mean, it’s one of the few large lakes that New Mexico has, and still might as well use it while you’ve got it,” said Rob Sharpe, a visitor from Bosque Farms. “It’s just you’ve got to be more cautious now, there’s less real estate, I guess you could say, so you really have to be careful with other boaters, swimmers, and kayakers,” said Thomas Foxworth, a visitor from El Paso.
Park officials say Friday was also the first day of their $10,000 prize fishing event. The Department of Game and Fish tagged and released a Largemouth Bass into the lake, and whoever catches it wins the $10,000 prize.
