Reservoir · New Mexico · United States · BOR RISE
El Vado Lake
El Vado Lake and Dam
12.6% full
Capacity
242.07 hm³
Volume stored
30 hm³
Vs month average
233% of normal
Coordinates
36.595°N, 106.737°W
Last updated
2026-10-26
Current fill
12.6%vs 7 days ago
+3.5 ppgaining
vs 1 year ago
0.0 ppyear-over-year
7-day trend
↑rising
Drought context
Storage vs October average
233%of normal
12.6% full on 2026-10-26, against an average of 5.4% for October across 6 years of readings (+7.2 points).
Drought Monitor at this site · 20 October 2026
D2severe drought
The ground at El Vado Lake's coordinates falls inside the D2 area of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map. That describes local conditions — rainfall, soil moisture, streamflow — not the reservoir's storage. New Mexico drought figures →
Data source: BOR RISE — US Bureau of Reclamation — daily reservoir storage volume. Capacity is the design (normal full-pool) capacity from the US National Inventory of Dams (NID); fill % = current volume ÷ design capacity. Last reading: 2026-10-26.
Catchment Weather
Past 30 days + 14-day forecast · Open-Meteo
Satellite imagery: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics. Map: Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors. 36.595°N, 106.737°W · Open in Google Maps
About El Vado Lake
As of October 26, 2026, El Vado Lake is filled to 12.6% of its total capacity, holding 30.42 hm³ of water out of a maximum 242.07 hm³. At this level the reservoir is critically low.
Over the most recent week on record the fill level has risen by 3.5 percentage points, and it sits close to where it was a year earlier.
Across the readings we hold for El Vado Lake — 1824 data points between October 29, 2021 and October 26, 2026 — the level has ranged from a low of 0.5% (April 15, 2023) to a high of 17.1% (October 29, 2021). On average the reservoir is fullest around November and at its lowest around September.
It is operated by BOR primarily for multiple purposes. It is at 36.595°N, 106.737°W.
Key facts
- Current fill level
- 12.6% of total capacity
- Water stored
- 30.42 hm³
- Total capacity
- 242.07 hm³
- 7-day change
- ▲ 3.5 pp
- Year-on-year
- No change
- Primary use
- Multipurpose
- Operator
- BOR
- Coordinates
- 36.595°N, 106.737°W
- Last updated
- October 26, 2026
Recent readings
| Date | Fill level | Volume (hm³) |
|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct 2026 | 12.6% | 30.42 |
| 25 Oct 2026 | 13.7% | 33.1 |
| 24 Oct 2026 | 14.4% | 34.8 |
| 23 Oct 2026 | 14.9% | 36.03 |
| 22 Oct 2026 | 10.5% | 25.46 |
| 21 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 22.02 |
| 20 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 21.92 |
| 19 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 21.97 |
| 18 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 22.03 |
| 17 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 22.08 |
| 16 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 22.09 |
| 15 Oct 2026 | 9.1% | 22.09 |