Feds Decline Additional Storage in Elephant Butte Reservoir

San Juan-Chama Storage Remains Upstream For Now

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gave the Rio Grande a reprieve this week when it refused to approve a contract for the storage of 50,000 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama water in Elephant Butte Reservoir. Instead, more of this water will be conserved in upstream reservoirs (that evaporate less water) with the possibility of creating environmental benefits downstream. The agency’s decision came in response to pressure by WildEarth Guardians during the environmental review process to conduct a more comprehensive review of the impacts and use the operational change as an opportunity to rethink reservoir storage and operations in the Rio Grande Basin.

“A century ago storage in Elephant Butte seemed revolutionary,” said Jen Pelz, Wild Rivers Program Director at WildEarth Guardians. “Today, storing any water in low-elevation reservoirs—where evaporation is already off the charts and only getting worse as the climate warms—is irresponsible and short-sighted.”

Reclamation’s decision comes after it prepared an environmental impact statement that evaluates the effects of the continued operation of Elephant Butte Reservoir under the 2008 Operating Agreement—an agreement between Reclamation, Elephant Butte Irrigation District (“EBID”), and the El Paso County Water Irrigation District (“EPCWID”)—that hopes to settle disputes between the parties and set out a revised system for allocating water under the Rio Grande Project. The review also included an analysis of the impact of storage 50,000 acre-feet of San Juan-Chama Project water in Elephant Butte on behalf of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (“Water Authority”). While the decision approved implementation of the operating agreement, a decision on additional storage was deferred until the environmental impacts are more comprehensively analyzed.

In the environmental review process, Guardians expressed its concern that Reclamation’s analysis completely failed to consider the effects of storing and redistributing the Water Authority’s San Juan-Chama Project water on flows in the Rio Grande in central New Mexico (the 175-mile reach between Cochiti and Elephant Butte Reservoirs). This section of the Rio Grande flows through the six middle Rio Grande Pueblos, the heart of Albuquerque, and is the home of several imperiled species including the Rio Grande silvery minnow, Southwestern flycatcher, yellow-billed cuckoo, and the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. Water management in this region is critical to the survival of a healthy river, communities, and the fish, wildlife and plants that depend on it for their survival.

Further, the group pointed out that the increased storage in Elephant Butte Reservoir—as a result of the project combined with the impacts of climate change—is predicted to result in the destruction of habitat around the reservoir utilized by the imperiled Southwestern willow flycatcher and yellow-billed cuckoo. The population of flycatchers and cuckoos on the Rio Grande is one of the largest in the region and increasing reservoir storage is predicted inundate the habitat (previously exposed by the reservoirs decline) and destroy 265 flycatcher and 106 cuckoo territories over the next 35 years.

“Climate change is already upon us in the Southwest and the consequences to the Rio Grande are predicted to be dire,” added Pelz. “Burying our heads in the sand is not going to make it go away. This is a prime opportunity to begin adjusting accordingly and taking bold actions to rethink how and what existing infrastructure is used to ensure a living Rio Grande and healthy communities.”


 

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