Rivers

156 rivers, with data through November 3, 2026.

Flow at the state line

How much water left New Mexico on its five largest exiting rivers, the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan and Gila, measured at one gauge on each, and how much entered on the Rio Grande from Colorado at Lobatos. Volumes are in acre-feet (one acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons) and are compared with the median for the same dates in 1991–2020. Data through November 3, 2026.

1,368,429acre-feet passed the five exit gauges in the last year: 74% of the median
475,516acre-feet in the last 30 days: 607% of the median
519,156acre-feet since October 1, a much above normal water year so far (515% of the median)
GaugeWeek30 days90 days6 months1 year
Rio GrandeRio Grande below Caballo Dam, NM14normal261normal395much below normal230,270much below normal231,559much below normal
Pecos RiverPecos River at Red Bluff, NM2,291much above normal6,502normal14,590normal22,419normal45,519normal
Canadian RiverCanadian River at Logan, NM46normal184below normal506below normal884below normal2,064below normal
San Juan RiverSan Juan River at Four Corners151,247much above normal451,198much above normal636,587much above normal777,522normal1,021,211normal
Gila RiverGila River below Blue Creek, near Virden, NM8,641much above normal17,371much above normal38,583above normal43,229normal68,075below normal
All five exitsadded together162,240much above normal1,045% of the median475,516much above normal607% of the median690,661much above normal174% of the median1,074,324normal91% of the median1,368,429below normal74% of the median
Entering from ColoradoRio Grande near Lobatos, CO; data through Nov 319,906much above normal38,055much above normal39,435above normal45,735normal158,356normal

Water leaving on the five rivers, each water year

Acre-feet in each water year (October to September) that passed the five exit gauges, in the years every gauge has data.

02,000,0004,000,0006,000,000acre-feet1978198519921999200620132020

Show the data as a table
  • Regulated rivers. Flow here is regulated by upstream dams and releases, not only by the weather.
  • Rio Grande. Much of the water released here is diverted for irrigation farther downstream, so the flow reaching the Texas line is not measured by a gauge in the archive and is smaller than this.
  • Gauges near the line. The gauge is upstream (or downstream) of the state line, not on it; tributaries and diversions between the gauge and the line are not counted.
  • San Juan. The San Juan-Chama Project diverts water out of the San Juan's headwaters to the Rio Grande basin upstream of this gauge, and Navajo Dam regulates what remains, so the flow is not the river's natural flow.
  • Lobatos. The USGS gauge here stopped in December 2024; the Colorado Division of Water Resources' copy of the same station supplies the days since.
  • Not the state's total. Other streams that cross the border (for example the Zuni River toward Arizona and the Dry Cimarron toward Oklahoma) and many ephemeral washes: these are five gauges, not the state's total outflow.
What is not counted, and how it is calculated
  • Tributaries that join between a gauge and the state line, and water diverted between them.
  • Rio Grande Compact, Pecos River Compact, Canadian River Compact and Colorado River Compact accounting, which rests on annual reports not held here.
  • Groundwater flowing across the border, and water imported into or exported out of the state by pipeline or diversion tunnel.
  • Volume that passed the gauge in the last N days: mean flow x N x 1.983471 acre-feet per cfs-day, stated when at least 75% of the days have data.
  • The median volume over the same calendar days of each year in 1991-2020 (the whole record when fewer than 20 of those years have data and at least 10 do); the percent is the volume over it.
  • The five exits added together: one gauge per river, so no water is counted twice. A year enters the total's normal only when every exit has a value that year.
  • October to September, named for the year it ends.

Water years, by gauge (CSV). Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation HydroData and the Colorado Division of Water Resources.

All rivers

RiverThis weekGaugesSince
Alamitos CreekNot enough data to rate32025
Alamosa CreekNot enough data to rate11931
Alamosa River0 of 1 stretch below normal61914
Animas River0 of 1 stretch below normal101897
Apishapa RiverNot enough data to rate21938
Arroyo ChicoNot enough data to rate11943
Arroyo del CoyoteNot enough data to rate21989
Arroyo del PinoNot enough data to rate21990
Basin Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal12014
Beaver Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11997
Beaver RiverNot enough data to rate11980
Black CreekNot enough data to rate21964
Black River (Lower Colorado)Not enough data to rate11962
Black River (Upper Pecos)0 of 1 stretch below normal41947
Blue RiverNot enough data to rate11967
Bluewater CreekNot enough data to rate31951
Cabresto CreekNot enough data to rate11943
Cañada de BueyNot enough data to rate21992
Canadian River0 of 3 stretches below normal71909
Cascade Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal22011
Casias CreekNot enough data to rate11937
Cement Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11991
Chaco RiverNot enough data to rate31975
Chaco WashNot enough data to rate41976
Cherry Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11928
Chicorica CreekNot enough data to rate41945
Cieneguilla CreekNot enough data to rate11928
Cimarron River (Upper Canadian)0 of 1 stretch below normal41907
Cimarron River (Upper Cimarron)Not enough data to rate21905
Conchas River0 of 1 stretch below normal11936
Conejos River0 of 1 stretch below normal71903
Costilla Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal61936
Cottonwood CreekNot enough data to rate11932
Coyote Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal31929
Cucharas RiverNot enough data to rate11934
Culebra Creek1 of 1 stretch below normal31927
Delaware RiverNot enough data to rate11937
Disappointment CreekNot enough data to rate21942
Dolores River0 of 1 stretch below normal51895
Dry Cimarron RiverNot enough data to rate21927
Eagle Creek (Upper Gila)0 of 1 stretch below normal31944
Eagle Creek (Upper Pecos)0 of 1 stretch below normal41969
East Fork Black RiverNot enough data to rate11965
East Fork Piedra RiverNot enough data to rate11990
East Fork San Juan RiverNot enough data to rate21935
East Mancos RiverNot enough data to rate11937
Elbert Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal12000
Embudo Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11923
Esteros CreekNot enough data to rate11973
Falls CreekNot enough data to rate11959
Florida River0 of 1 stretch below normal51910
Galisteo Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal31941
Gallinas River0 of 1 stretch below normal41904
Gila River0 of 3 stretches below normal91910
Goose Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal21924
Hermosa Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11920
Horse Lake CreekNot enough data to rate11962
Jemez River0 of 1 stretch below normal41936
Junction CreekNot enough data to rate11959
Kim-me-ni-oli WashNot enough data to rate21981
La Jara Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal21943
La Plata River0 of 1 stretch below normal71917
Latir CreekNot enough data to rate11945
Lightner CreekNot enough data to rate11927
Little Colorado River0 of 2 stretches below normal71940
Little Navajo River0 of 1 stretch below normal21935
Los Pinos River0 of 1 stretch below normal31927
Lost Canyon CreekNot enough data to rate21941
Mancos River0 of 1 stretch below normal81921
McElmo Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal51926
Middle Fork Piedra RiverNot enough data to rate21969
Middle Mancos RiverNot enough data to rate11938
Mimbres River0 of 1 stretch below normal61930
Mogollon Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11967
Mora River0 of 1 stretch below normal51906
Moreno CreekNot enough data to rate11928
Mud Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal21978
Navajo River0 of 1 stretch below normal41912
Navajo WashNot enough data to rate11986
North Branch Conejos River0 of 1 stretch below normal11999
North Clear Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11929
Nutrioso CreekNot enough data to rate31967
Pecos River0 of 5 stretches below normal371903
Piedra River0 of 1 stretch below normal41936
Pinos Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11919
Pojoaque RiverNot enough data to rate11936
Ponil Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11916
Puerco RiverNot enough data to rate41940
Purgatoire River0 of 1 stretch below normal91896
Rayado Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11911
Red River0 of 1 stretch below normal51924
Revuelto Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11959
Rio Blanco0 of 1 stretch below normal31935
Rio BonitoNot enough data to rate21930
Rio BrazosNot enough data to rate12014
Rio Chama0 of 1 stretch below normal81912
Rio ChiquitoNot enough data to rate11957
Rio de los Pinos0 of 1 stretch below normal11915
Rio FelixNot enough data to rate11939
Rio Grande1 of 6 stretches below normal291889
Rio Grande del Rancho0 of 1 stretch below normal11952
Rio GuadalupeNot enough data to rate21939
Rio Hondo (Rio Grande-Elephant Butte)0 of 1 stretch below normal31912
Rio Hondo (Upper Pecos)0 of 1 stretch below normal61939
Rio Lucero0 of 1 stretch below normal11913
Rio Mora0 of 1 stretch below normal11963
Rio Nambe0 of 1 stretch below normal41932
Rio Nutria0 of 1 stretch below normal21969
Rio Ojo Caliente0 of 1 stretch below normal11932
Rio Peñasco0 of 1 stretch below normal31951
Rio Pueblo0 of 1 stretch below normal21936
Rio Pueblo de Taos0 of 1 stretch below normal41910
Rio Puerco0 of 1 stretch below normal41934
Rio Ruidoso0 of 1 stretch below normal31930
Rio San Antonio0 of 1 stretch below normal31919
Rio San Jose0 of 1 stretch below normal41912
Rio Tesuque0 of 1 stretch below normal51936
Rito BlancoNot enough data to rate11935
Rito de los FrijolesNot enough data to rate21960
Rock CreekNot enough data to rate11935
Rocky Arroyo (Rio Hondo)0 of 1 stretch below normal21963
Rocky Arroyo (Upper Pecos-Black)0 of 1 stretch below normal11940
Salt Creek (Rio Grande Closed Basins)0 of 1 stretch below normal11995
Salt Creek (San Juan)Not enough data to rate11956
San Francisco Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal21967
San Francisco River0 of 1 stretch below normal51910
San Juan River0 of 3 stretches below normal111930
Sangre de Cristo Creek1 of 1 stretch below normal21916
Santa Cruz River0 of 1 stretch below normal21932
Santa Fe River0 of 1 stretch below normal41913
Santistevan CreekNot enough data to rate11937
Sapello RiverNot enough data to rate21917
Shumway ArroyoNot enough data to rate21974
Sixmile CreekNot enough data to rate11958
South Fork Rio Grande0 of 1 stretch below normal21910
South Seven Rivers0 of 1 stretch below normal11963
Spring CreekNot enough data to rate11951
Taylor ArroyoNot enough data to rate11983
Tecolote CreekNot enough data to rate31960
Tijeras ArroyoNot enough data to rate61943
Trinchera Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal41923
Tularosa Creek1 of 1 stretch below normal21938
Tularosa RiverNot enough data to rate11966
Una de Gato CreekNot enough data to rate21946
Ute Creek (Rio Grande Headwaters)0 of 1 stretch below normal11923
Ute Creek (Upper Canadian)0 of 1 stretch below normal11942
Vallecito Creek0 of 1 stretch below normal11962
Van Bremer ArroyoNot enough data to rate21966
Vermejo River0 of 1 stretch below normal31915
West Fork Gila RiverNot enough data to rate22016
West Fork San Juan RiverNot enough data to rate31935
West Mancos River0 of 1 stretch below normal21938
Wightman ForkNot enough data to rate21995
Willow Creek (Rio Grande Headwaters)Not enough data to rate11951
Willow Creek (Rio Grande-Elephant Butte)Not enough data to rate21962
Wolf CreekNot enough data to rate21968