EBID irrigation season ending for Mesilla Valley. Here's what that means for the Rio Grande.

Southern New Mexicans have about one more month to enjoy the full Rio Grande as the Elephant Butte Irrigation District’s 2023 irrigation season comes to an end in August.

Water only runs through the Rio Grande in the southern part of the state for a few months each summer, distributing irrigation allotments to farmers and other agricultural land. The water was released from Caballo Dam on May 13 this year.

Gary Esslinger, EBID interim manager, said Aug. 18 will be the last day water is delivered to Mesilla Valley farmers. He said water orders to Hatch Valley were completed on July 29 as the season started earlier for this area.

“The 2023 irrigation has been quite successful and certainly the increase in the allotment of 14 (inches of surface water per acre) has helped tremendously; allowing farmers to extend their water orders into the hottest summer on record,” Esslinger said in an email.

Heatwaves of record-breaking triple-digit-temperature streaks have plagued the Southwest all summer.

While EBID will cease to deliver water orders in mid-August, the monsoon season still may produce moisture for crops.

“Certainly there is still opportunity to capture flood water and utilize this resource to the benefit of the crops growing season as well and redirect these flood flows into our drains to recharge the aquifer,” Esslinger said.

Monsoon season officially began on June 15 — though New Mexico typically does not start seeing moisture until late June or early July — and lasts through the end of September.

According to David DuBois, New Mexico state climatologist, Las Cruces is experiencing the "driest calendar year on record." Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 8, only 1.67 inches of precipitation has been recorded at the gauge on the New Mexico State University campus. By this time in 2022, NMSU had recorded 4.48 inches.

However, significant flooding has occurred in Doña Ana County in the latter months of the season. Notably, the colonia of La Union experienced devastating floods in August 2021 and previous years.

Meanwhile, Esslinger said the Rio Grande will continue to flow in southern New Mexico through the middle of September to reach El Paso and Mexico’s irrigation districts and fill water orders.

This means river recreation such as swimming, tubing and rafting will continue for the rest of the summer until the flow becomes too shallow. Once the water flow ceases, the riverbed will remain dry for the rest of the year and into 2024 until the irrigation season returns in the spring.

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Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Southern New Mexicans can enjoy a full Rio Grande for about one more month