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News Release Archive
Reclamation Releases Operating Plan for Rio Grande
Media Contact:
Mary Perea Carlson, (505) 462-3576, mcarlson@usbr.gov
For Release: April 15, 2010
The Bureau of Reclamation's Albuquerque Area Office today released its Annual Operating Plan for the Rio Grande.
The snowpack in the northern mountains is average to a little above average and should provide adequate water supply to meet flow requirements in the Biological Opinion for the Rio Grande silvery minnow throughout the irrigation season.
The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District also expects to have a full irrigation season.
The April forecast data released by the Natural Resources Conservation Service shows snow pack volumes throughout northern New Mexico to be near or at 100 percent of average. The inflow at El Vado Reservoir is expected to be about 230,000 acre-feet of water or 97 percent of average. The inflow at Heron Reservoir is expected to be about 94,000 acre-feet or about 97 percent of average. An acre-foot is equivalent to about 326,000 gallons. The Santa Fe River, near Santa Fe, has a significantly higher snowpack of 133 percent of average.
Storage at El Vado Reservoir is currently not allowed due to Article VII restrictions under the Rio Grande Compact. It restricts storage in reservoirs above Elephant Butte that were built after 1929, including El Vado, when the combined level of usable project storage water in the Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs falls below 400,000 acre-feet. New Mexico has been in and out of Article VII restrictions several times in recent years. Forecasts show we will likely come out of Article VII restrictions for about a month this summer.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not yet issued a decision on whether this will be a wet, average or dry year under the 2003 Biological Opinion. This designation determines whether Reclamation is allowed to dry portions of the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque in a controlled manner over the summer.
Those planning recreation or work along the Rio Chama below El Vado and the Middle Rio Grande should be cautious and prepared for higher flows through May and into June.
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