ABC-7 Xtra: Bottom of the Butte
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Elephant Butte Lake is at 3.8 percent of capacity - water that farmers in southern New Mexico and the borderland rely on to nourish their crops. If you have not been to the lake in a while, it's terribly low. Frank Vilorio is a fishing guide who's been working this water for thirty-two years - he said he's never seen it this bad.
Elephant Butte is a huge source of surface water for farmers. It is fed primarily by snow melt in the spring that comes from the mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The lake needs significant inflow next year to allow farmers to have their water.
Dr. Phil King is a water expert for Elephant Butte Irrigation District. He says farmers will need a significant amount of water added to the lake for next year, and he says the long-term forecast for mountain snowfall as well as rainfall looks very poor.
If farmers cannot use water from the lake to irrigate their crops, they'll have to pump water from their wells, something they don't want to do. Well water has more salt, which is harder on the crops, plus pumping water takes more energy and thus increases the cost of doing business.
