04/09/2026
We understand that there has been concern from visitors that the special release of 650 million gallons of water to help the Rio Grande will cause changes at Abiquiu Lake, and while it absolutely has had an effect, it is important to think about the scale of volume used when talking about water.
Abiquiu Lake has a current storage of just under 110,000 acrefeet of water. The unique release that has been in the news amounts to a total of less than 2000 acrefeet, so while it DID change the level of the lake, it was a change of 3-4 inches in total.
The rest of the lake level change seen this week was an increase due to local rain, and the release of that native water from Abiquiu Dam.
For real-time information on the level of the lake, please refer to the USGS at https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-08286900/ =continuous-00065-2765479&period=P7D&showFieldMeasurements=true
