Reservoirs
Below normalElephant Butte Reservoir water level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Rio Grande basin, New Mexico
Data through Sep 23, 2026 · source last checked Oct 1, 2026 · page revised Sep 24, 2026
Cite
- Storage
About this data
- Source
- US Bureau of Reclamation RISE; California reservoirs via CA DWR CDEC
- Series
- End-of-day reservoir storage
- Geography
- Elephant Butte Reservoir water level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Sep 23, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 31,826 af, 71% below the 5-yr median, 2% of capacity.
Elephant Butte storage stands at 31,826 af, 2% of capacity and 71% below the 5-year median. The reservoir gained 13.6% on the week and 15.8% over the month, but remains down 51.4% year-over-year.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 31,826 af | 28,011 af | +13.6% |
| Month over month | 31,826 af | 27,483 af | +15.8% |
| Year over year | 31,826 af | 65,452 af | -51.4% |
| vs 5-yr median | 31,826 af | 109,856 af | -71.0% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Sep 23, 2026 | 4,277.31 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | +1.62 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -11.67 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 4,299.01 ft |
| Below full pool | 129.69 ft |
| Five-year low | 4,275.13 ft (Jul 29, 2026) |
| Five-year high | 4,346.67 ft (Jul 1, 2023) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 4,407 ft above sea level (top of active conservation pool) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 197 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 42,750 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 2,010,900 acre-feet | USBR |
Previous weeks
Week of Sep 14, 2026
Elephant Butte storage stands at 27,873 af, 1% of capacity and 75% below the 5-year median. Year over year, storage is down 56.2%. The reservoir gained 2.4% month over month.
Week of Sep 2, 2026
Elephant Butte storage stood at 27,644 af, down 63% year-over-year. The reservoir sits 74% below the 5-year median and at 1% of capacity. Storage rose 2.6% from the prior month.
Week of Aug 25, 2026
Elephant Butte stores 27,438 af, down 63.4% from a year ago and 73% below the 5-year median. Storage stands at 1% of capacity.
An earlier week
Elephant Butte Reservoir stood at 27,278 af this week, up 1% from the prior week but 72% below the 5-year median (Bureau of Reclamation). Storage has trended lower through the 2026 irrigation season and the 1% weekly gain provides minimal offset to the cumulative deficit. This reservoir is the lead chart in this week's issue.
About Elephant Butte Reservoir
Elephant Butte Reservoir's water level is 4,277.31 feet above sea level as of Sep 23, 2026, 129.69 feet below full pool (4,407 feet), with 31,826 acre-feet in storage (2% of capacity). That is 1.62 feet higher than a week earlier and 11.67 feet lower than a year earlier.
Elephant Butte Dam impounds the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, the principal storage reservoir of the Rio Grande Project. It is the largest reservoir in New Mexico, more than two million acre-feet at full pool. Reclamation dispatches its water for irrigation in the Rincon and Mesilla valleys and around El Paso, along with deliveries to Mexico under a 1906 treaty.
Total capacity is 2.01M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 26,732 af to 570,686 af.
Elephant Butte Reservoir is one of the 21 major reservoirs this site totals each day. For the combined picture, western reservoir levels carries the storage of all 21 on one chart, which is the number to watch when the question is about the West as a whole rather than about this project.
Those figures describe the reservoir at full pool, not today. The chart at the top of this page tracks storage in acre-feet and the elevation table tracks the water surface in feet, so read storage against total capacity for how full the reservoir is, and the elevation against the full pool elevation and maximum depth for the size of the water column behind the dam. The two do not move together one for one: a reservoir narrows as it deepens, so one holding half its capacity still stands more than half as deep.
Sources: full pool elevation and maximum depth from the Bureau of Reclamation; surface area from the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams; total capacity from the Bureau of Reclamation.