The first zero-release April in Elephant Butte history

It seems I will never run out of ways of saying the current drought is historic. Here’s one more measure: this is the first year in the history of the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Rio Grande Project, nearly a century, that no water was released from Elephant Butte Reservoir during the month of April. Drought is a complicated thing, involving more than simply a year of less rain and snow. Depending on where you are and the role of water in your life, the severity of drought accumulates over multiple years. Warmer temperatures, which we’ve had in recent years, can add to the problem. And water demand is a crucial element. A drought that once would have been modest will have severe effects if you’ve come to depend on more water than in the past. And according to USGS gauge records, this is the first time since Elephant Butte operations began in 1916 that no water was released from the Butte in April...more