ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – As irrigation season in New Mexico winds down, farmers along the Rio Grande are grappling with increasingly scarce water supplies. Despite a relatively active monsoon season, the water levels in the Rio Grande Valley remain critically low.
Experts warn that these challenges will only grow in the coming years with the situation complicated by the ongoing closure of the El Vado Dam.
John Fleck, writer-in-residence at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at the University of New Mexico School of Law, emphasizes the importance of El Vado Dam in managing water resources.
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“We have dams that store water in the spring and release it in late summer,” Fleck explains. “That’s been normal for a century, but that’s changing now with El Vado Dam on the Rio Chama out of commission.”
El Vado Dam, one of only four steel-plated dams in the country, has been under maintenance since 2022. The dam’s unique design, featuring a steel faceplate to hold back water, has proved problematic over time.