Reservoirs
How much water New Mexico's 24 larger reservoirs hold, and how that compares with the same date in other years. Latest readings Nov 4, 2026.
Water in a reservoir is measured in acre-feet: one acre-foot covers an acre a foot deep, about 326,000 gallons. What "full" means depends on what the reservoir is for, so they are grouped by kind. Each name opens that reservoir's page, with the last year day by day and its history back to when records began.
Statewide
Percent full divides the water held by what the reservoirs can hold at full pool, added up across the group, so a large reservoir counts for more than a small one. Navajo Lake holds 81% of the water in this group. Flood-control lakes, dry dams and reservoirs with only an owner's estimate of capacity are totalled below but are not in the percent, because their capacity means something different.
Last 365 days
Water held in the storage reservoirs, against the middle and spread of the same date in other years (shaded: the middle half and the 10th to 90th percentile).
- Median of past years
- Water held
- 10th–90th percentile of past years
- Middle half of past years
Show the data as a table
Since 1986
Percent full of the storage reservoirs, by week, for the years in which all of them report.
Show the data as a table
| Kind | Reservoirs | Water held (acre-feet) | Capacity (acre-feet) | Percent | Last 30 days (acre-feet) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage reservoirs and forebays | 8 | 1,621,371 | 4,709,941 | 34.4% | +604,084 |
| Flood-control lakespercent of the conservation pool | 6 | 443,627 | 920,347 | 48.2% | +107,115 |
| Dry flood-control dams | 4 | 2 | – | – | −11 |
| Small and municipal reservoirs | 6 | 199,864 | – | – | +6,474 |
| All reservoirs | 24 | 1,840,565 | – | – | +429,733 |
What is counted, and what is not
- Reservoirs in Colorado, Texas and Arizona that matter to New Mexico (Platoro, Rio Grande Reservoir, Lake Meredith, Red Bluff and others): not in the registry.
- Smaller New Mexico reservoirs not in the registry (for example Storrie Lake, Morgan Lake, Stubblefield, Farmington Lake) and mine and industrial tailings ponds.
- Water in storage is not all New Mexico's: San Juan-Chama water in Heron, El Vado and Abiquiu belongs to its contractors, and Elephant Butte and Caballo store Rio Grande Project water allocated to irrigation districts in New Mexico and Texas and to Mexico.
A figure is shown only for days on which every reservoir in the group reports; a reservoir's last reading is carried forward up to 7 days. The comparison with other years is of acre-feet held, 30 years of 1991-2020 in which every member reports.
Storage reservoirs, weekly (CSV). Sources: Bureau of Reclamation HydroData, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers CWMS, U.S. Geological Survey.
Storage reservoirs and forebays
These reservoirs hold water for later use. Percent full is the water held divided by what the reservoir can hold at its full pool, using the capacity that applied at the time.
| Reservoir | River | Water held (acre-feet) | % of full pool | Compared with this date in other years | Last 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Reservoir | Pecos River | 4,832 | 78.9% | much above normaltypical: 21% | up 613 |
| Caballo Reservoir | Rio Grande | 25,951 | 8.0% | normaltypical: 9% | up 202 |
| Eagle Nest Lake | Cimarron River (Upper Canadian) | 20,850 | 25.7% | too few years to say what is normal | down 84 |
| El Vado Reservoir | Rio Chama | 34,290 | 18.6% | too few years to say what is normal | up 15,737 |
| Elephant Butte Reservoir | Rio Grande | 148,971 | 7.4% | below normaltypical: 59% | up 82,057 |
| Heron Reservoir | Willow Creek (Rio Grande-Elephant Butte) | 66,318 | 16.6% | much below normaltypical: 60% | up 35,106 |
| Nambe Falls Reservoir | Rio Nambe | 1,653 | 99.4% | much above normaltypical: 56% | down 0 |
| Navajo Lake | San Juan River | 1,318,506 | 77.5% | normaltypical: 80% | up 483,200 |
Flood-control lakes
These lakes hold a normal "conservation" or recreation pool and keep a much larger space empty to catch floods. Percent is measured against the conservation pool, so a reading above 100% means flood water is being held back.
| Reservoir | River | Water held (acre-feet) | % of conservation pool | Compared with this date in other years | Last 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abiquiu Lake | Rio Chama | 172,985 | 75.5% | normaltypical: 79% | up 56,403 |
| Brantley Lake | Pecos River | 43,825 | 102.3% | much above normaltypical: 46% | up 13,684 |
| Cochiti Lake | Rio Grande | 58,941 | 133.6% | much above normaltypical: 100% | up 14,157 |
| Conchas Lake | Canadian River | 155,789 | 49.5% | normaltypical: 50% | up 9,371 |
| Lake Sumner | Pecos River | 14,779 | 41.1% | normaltypical: 45% | up 7,220 |
| Santa Rosa Lake | Pecos River | 45,250 | 17.9% | normaltypical: 20% | up 16,610 |
Dry flood-control dams
These dams are empty by design. They store water only while holding back a flood and release it afterwards, so zero is normal and the news is when they are not zero.
| Reservoir | River | Water held (acre-feet) | Days holding flood water this year | Latest reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galisteo Reservoir | Galisteo Creek | 0 | 1 | Oct 16, 2026 |
| Jemez Canyon Reservoir | Jemez River | 0 | 0 | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Two Rivers Reservoir (Diamond A Dam) | Rio Hondo (Upper Pecos) | 0 | 15 | Oct 16, 2026 |
| Two Rivers Reservoir (Rocky Dam) | Rocky Arroyo (Rio Hondo) | 0 | 15 | Oct 16, 2026 |
Small and municipal reservoirs
For these reservoirs the only capacity figure is the owner's own estimate of normal storage, which has not been corrected for sediment and was not checked against the operator's measurements. We show how much water they hold, in acre-feet, and no percent.
| Reservoir | River | Water held (acre-feet) | 30 days ago (acre-feet) | Latest reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluewater Lake | Bluewater Creek | 3,718 | 3,021 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Costilla Reservoir | Costilla Creek | 1,680 | 1,027 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Lake Maloya | Chicorica Creek | 3,704 | 3,485 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| McClure Reservoir | Santa Fe River | 1,880 | 1,185 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Nichols Reservoir | Santa Fe River | 482 | 547 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| Ute Reservoir | Canadian River | 188,400 | 184,126 | Nov 4, 2026 |
What these numbers are
- The readings are what the operating agencies report: the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey. We have not audited the latest values. Reclamation labels its data "provisional and subject to revision unless otherwise noted."
- Compared with this date in other years uses 1991–2020, only for years in which we can trust the capacity figure (at least 15 such years are needed), and rates the reading with the same five classes used for rivers and rain. A difference of under 5 percentage points of the pool is always called normal.
- Capacity is not constant: sediment fills reservoirs, operators replace their measurement tables, and some change what counts as full. Each page says how well its capacity is known.
Every reservoir and year, as a CSV. Data through November 4, 2026.