Current drought mirrors drought of 1950s

Groundwater Pump 1905

The once mighty Elephant Butte Lake seemed more like a large pond, and the bed of the Rio Grande a giant sandbox. The farmers who'd come to depend on its waters hoped to get one or maybe two irrigations from it, if they were lucky. But it wasn't looking good. "The water situation is serious. Despite recent snow in the watershed, there still is so little accumulated that many experts believe the soil is so dry it will absorb all of it when it melts in the spring," the Sun-News reported. Sixty years later, the dire prediction that spring of 1951 sounds eerily familiar. The Associated Press reported New Mexico and a third of the country was enduring "the worst drought in the history of the nation," with at least 14 states in extreme drought. Ranchers around the state were selling off their cattle as rangeland turned brown. Water sources dried up, leading to widespread death of fish and other animals. Forest fires plagued much of the state, and cities including Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe mulled the depletion of their water supply. Yet in the midst of all this, the Mesilla Valley looked as green as ever. Unlike areas dependent on rainfall, farmers in the Mesilla Valley had a drought-busting solution. And it was right under their feet. The irrigation season of 2013 is looking worse than the summer of 1956, when the drought was at its peak and farmers received 4.5 inches of water — the normal allotment is closer to 4-acre feet — enough for one or maybe two irrigations. This year, farmers are expecting to get 3.5 acre-inches of water, while the Elephant Butte reservoir is at its lowest level ever...more