Block release of water scheduled to begin from Santa Rosa Reservoir August 11, 2022

USACE-Albuquerque District public affairs
Published Aug. 8, 2022

SANTA ROSA LAKE, N.M. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Albuquerque District announced today that it has scheduled a block release of water from Santa Rosa Lake to start Thursday, August 11, 2022, at 8:00 am.

The Bureau of Reclamation, acting on the behalf of Carlsbad Irrigation District, requested the block release of approximately 20,000 acre-feet.

Carlsbad Irrigation District owns the irrigation water that makes up all of the water stored in Santa Rosa Lake.

The block release from Santa Rosa Lake is scheduled to end between August 21 and August 29, 2022, depending on the volume of inflow that enters the lake during the block release.  

“The final date and time for the end of the release will depend on when the full release of 20,000 acre-feet is complete, or if Bureau of Reclamation requests an earlier stop to retain more storage in Santa Rosa Lake,” said Carlos Aragon, Pecos and Arkansas River Basin Manager in the USACE-Albuquerque District’s Water Management Section.

Based on current conditions, the lake’s elevation at the beginning of the release is estimated to be at 4718.8 feet, or approximately 22,225 acre-feet of storage. At the end of the release, the lake’s elevation is estimated to be at 4,688.4 feet, or approximately 2,100 acre-feet of storage. This equates to about a 30-foot drop in lake elevation during the block release. The final drop in elevation depends on the actual inflows into the lake and the final release volume.

At the end of the release, it is expected that there could be as little as 250 acres of lake available for fishing and recreation. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and New Mexico State Parks have been notified so that they can make determinations on the management of recreation and the lake’s fishery.

Santa Rosa Dam is the first major dam along the Pecos River, and its reservoir has a 2,434 square mile contributing drainage area. The other two dams, Sumner Lake and Dam, and Brantley Dam, are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. The Santa Rosa Reservoir is a main component in the Pecos River Basin comprehensive plan, providing irrigation storage, flood control, and sediment retention.

Although the reservoir is a Corps' managed lake, the campgrounds and most recreation areas at Santa Rosa Lake are managed by New Mexico State Parks. 

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Contact
Elizabeth Lockyear
505-342-3106
cespa-pa@usace.army.mil

Release no. 22-011