Elephant Butte drops to 1.4 percent of capacity, lowest since 1971
Elephant Butte Reservoir held 27,461 acre feet on August 27, 2026, about 1.4 percent of its 1,960,900 acre foot conservation capacity, against 74,254 acre feet a year earlier.
- Elephant Butte storage
- 27,461 AF (1.4%)
- One year earlier
- 74,254 AF (3.8%)
- 2026 EBID allotment
- 4 inches per acre
- Normal full allotment
- 2 AF per acre
What happened
Elephant Butte Reservoir held 27,461 acre feet on August 27, 2026, roughly 1.4 percent of its 1,960,900 acre foot conservation capacity, compared with 74,254 acre feet (3.8 percent) one year earlier. NASA Earth Observatory had reported the 1.4 percent level on July 27 as the lowest since 1971.
The 2026 irrigation season reflected it: the Caballo release was roughly 216,000 acre feet, the third lowest on record, and the Elephant Butte Irrigation District allotment was four inches per acre against a full wet-year allotment of two acre feet. EBID’s consultant told the board to expect a critically low supply again in 2027, with planning scenarios of 150,000 to 200,000 acre feet.
What it means if you own water here
When the project reservoir is effectively empty, groundwater becomes the only supply, and that is exactly what the May 2026 Supreme Court decree now requires New Mexico to cut. The state is standing up a $150 million program to buy and retire Lower Rio Grande groundwater rights, and it is already paying $750 to $800 per acre to fallow.
Owners in the Lower Rio Grande are holding the asset a court-ordered, well-funded buyer needs. The purchase price is still being set by study; the fallowing rate is already public.
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