Elephant Butte Lake on the Rio Grande River

Elephant Butte Lake
by Peter Hurd (1904-1984)
Watercolor, 26" x 40"
Elephant Butte Lake on the Rio Grande Project, New Mexico.

Reclamation's Rio Grande Project provides irrigation water to about 178,000 acres of land and electrical power to numerous communities in south central New Mexico. Elephant Butte Dam is a concrete gravity dam 1,674 feet long and 301 feet high. Elephant Butte Reservoir has a capacity of 2,220,000 acre feet and a surface area of more than 36,500 acres. In addition to Elephant Butte Reservoir, the Rio Grande Project has one other storage reservoir, 6 diversion dams, one power plant, 414 miles of canals, and 462 miles of laterals. The Rio Grande Project serves lands in both New Mexico and Texas.

back