Water Released From Elephant Butte To Help Increase Water Availability In Borderland

It might not look like it, but help is on the way for the low water levels in the Rio Grande.

According to El Paso Water Utilities officials, water was released on Tuesday from Elephant Butte, almost a month later than normal, due to drought conditions limiting the water supply.

The water should arrive in the area by Saturday, but officials said it could take a little longer for the extra water to have an impact on our supply.

“Water is on it’s way down the Rio Grande. Once we get water of a certain quality and a certain quantity, we’ll be able to restart our two water treatment plants along the river. That will mean we have more water to get through the rest of the rest of the summer,” said El Paso Water Utilities spokesman Martin Bartlett.

But until then, residents are still being asked to conserve water with voluntary water conservation measures that EPWU has been calling for during the past two weeks.

Unfortunately, the ‘voluntary’ water conservation campaign may not have had as big of an impact as officials had hoped.

“How did we do during the course of the two weeks? It really varied. Some days we saw really high numbers and some days we saw really low numbers,” said Bartlett.

So far the city has been able to avoid mandatory water conservation measures being put in place.

But officials said it’s going to take teamwork to continue without strict rules in place.

“While we’ve avoided mandatory water restrictions so far, we can continue to do that if we all work together,” said Bartlett.

In the end, officials said being responsible water-users has to become a lifestyle choice if we are to live in the middle of the desert.

“The less we use today, the more we have tomorrow.” said Bartlett.