El Vado Lake lake and shoreline

El Vado Lake Water Level

New Mexico

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El Vado Lake is currently at a water-surface elevation of 6810.3 feet.

6810.31 ft · Updated 1 day ago · U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)

Current level

6,810.31ft

Status unavailable

A verified operating range is not available for this lake.

Since last reading

Down 0.14 ft

Previous readingSep 86,810.45 ft

7-day change

Down 0.38 ft

7-day trend: Falling

4 daily readings in the last 7 days

30-day change

Down 0.38 ft

4 daily readings in the last 30 days

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Water Level History

Elevation (ft) Water-surface elevation (ft)

6810 ft6811 ft6811 ftSep 7Sep 10

Level status

Summary updating

This comparison needs the current level and full pool. We use the live feed when present, otherwise the latest daily summary when it includes a pool comparison.

DatumVertical reference for published pool and stage elevations at this lake (from the lake catalog).
Water-surface elevation (ft)
Elevation reference
Not available
Source
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)

Reference levels

No published reference elevations for this lake.

Watershed drought

Extreme Drought

100% of watershed in official drought (D1+).

Severity

NoneExtreme
Trend
Stable

Watershed drought conditions

Rio Arriba County, NM

Extreme Drought

Extreme Drought. Extreme drought conditions are present.. Trend: Stable compared with last week. Official drought yes

Severity

NoneExtreme

Weekly trend

Stable

Compared with last week

Official drought

Yes

100% of the watershed is currently classified as official drought (D1+).

Expected impacts

  • Significantly reduced stream inflows
  • Lake levels may fall quickly without heavy rain
  • Dry vegetation and elevated wildfire risk
  • Water use restrictions may apply nearby

U.S. Drought Monitor · map date Sep 8, 2026. Updated weekly. droughtmonitor.unl.eduView drought map for Rio Arriba County, NM

Daily level summary

  • Sep 9, 2026

    6,810.31 ft

    -0.14 ft

  • Sep 8, 2026

    6,810.45 ft

    -0.13 ft

  • Sep 7, 2026

    6,810.58 ft

    -0.11 ft

  • Sep 6, 2026

    6,810.69 ft

    —

Common questions about El Vado Lake’s water level

  • The current water level at El Vado Lake is 6,810.31 ft (updated 1 day ago). You can track the El Vado Lake lake level on the interactive chart and daily history above.

  • The current 7-day trend for the El Vado Lake lake level is falling — falling about 0.38 ft over the past week. See the history chart above for the full picture.

  • Readings refresh when U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) publishes new gauge data — typically daily for most reservoirs. The timestamp above the chart shows when the latest observation arrived on Lake Insights.

Lake level glossary

Definitions for pool targets, datums, and how elevation readings are labeled.

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