Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Conchas Lake at historic low levels

The water level at Conchas Lake in San Miguel County is at 4,155 feet, which is 45 feet below the spillway and the lowest the lake has been since the record set in 1954 when it was at 4,155.80, said Jason Latham, Army Corp of Engineers at Conchas. It doesn't appear the lakes will be recharged anytime soon. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque forecast more dry, warm weather through spring. Latham said it would take six months of continuous flow from the Conchas and South Canadian rivers — which feed the lake — to approach capacity. The diminished water levels at Conchas have had an impact on the ability of the Arch Hurley Conservancy District in Quay County to allocate water to members. Conchas is the main source of water, which is delivered to members through a series of concrete canals. The members have not received an allocation of water since 2010, which was only a partial allocation...more

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nobody knows when Conchas Lake will recharge. It has filled before just from one summer's rains. There would have been a lot more water in this lake if the greedy land developers (Hooverville) had not sold property within the flood pool area. One well named Senator from NM was partially responsible for this. Consequently the flood boards could not be put in the dam, which was built for them. This reduced by one half the holding capacity of the lake.