For the first time in more than six years, water was released at 7 p.m. on Sunday from Ute Lake into the Canadian River, said Kent Terry, Ute Lake Dam manager and tender for the state’s Interstate Stream Commission. Due to recent rains, Ute Lake reached an elevation of 3,785.52 feet. “Above that number it’s Texas’ water, below that number it’s New Mexico’s water,” he said.
That number, Terry said, “is part of the operating schedule that was determined in a judgment by the U.S. Supreme Court. Any water above that mark is automatically sent to Texas.”
The 1992 judgment was made when Texas and Oklahoma challenged the amount of water New Mexico was storing in the lake based on a decades-old compact between the three states.
Texas has a particular interest in the water because the Canadian River flows into its Lake Meredith reservoir. Lake Meredith is a source for drinking water for more than 500,000 people in Amarillo and surrounding areas.
At the Ute Lake dam, the lake level is monitored daily and transmitted via satellite to a website, Terry said. And both the Interstate Stream Commission and the Canadian Municipal Water Authority in Texas watch it closely.
As a matter of protocol, when the lake reaches the 3,785.52-foot mark, “Santa Fe calls and asks them if they are ready,” Terry said.
The last time Ute Lake Dam’s 42-inch diameter valves were opened was in the early spring of 2000 to release water to head toward Texas, Terry said. It is estimated that 75 percent of the water that is released will reach Lake Meredith. The remainder is lost to evaporation and seepage into the ground. However, with the earth saturated from recent rains, “it probably won’t lose as much,” Terry said.
“At the present rate, with no more rains, it will be open for about two to three weeks,” Terry said. “With more rains, it will just prolong it.” It takes the water released from Ute Lake about 72 hours to show up in Lake Meredith, Terry said.