Elephant Butte Irrigation District: Farmers to receive a third less than normal water allotment
Water is a critical resource for farmers in Southern New Mexico. On Tuesday, they learned they’ll be receiving less than a third of their normal allotment.
About 75 farmers crowded inside the Elephant Butte Irrigation District board room and learned they’re scheduled to receive get about 10 inches of water per acre of farmland this year.
That’s significantly higher than the 3 and a half inches in 2013, but much less than the three feet of water that’s considered a full allotment.
A hydrologist credits the wetter winter, and more water shed for the increase this year, but says it hasn’t reached its full potential.
“We want our trees to be fuller and have the pecans bigger, fill out,” pecan farmer Larry Metcheny said.
“It’s not a good outlook,” Dr. J. Phillip King said. “But we’ve seen worse very recently. It’s looking better. We certainly hope to get back in a wet cycle like we had in the 80’s and 90’s but it’s just not happening yet.”
Dr. King says they’ll begin releasing water from the Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs to farmers in Mesilla and the upper valley and in April and May. Irrigation season continues until September.
