Seepage investigation of the Rio Grande from below Leasburg Dam, Leasburg, New Mexico, to above El Paso, Texas, 2018

Abstract

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Mesilla/Conejos-Médanos Basin: U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Water Resources

“…As a primary source of recharge to the groundwater, the Rio Grande, through much of its 100-km length in the Basin, loses water by seepage to the aquifer [49][50][51][52][53]. When the river has water in it, seepage to the aquifer can maintain groundwater levels.…”

“…Elephant Butte Dam was completed in 1916, and Caballo Dam was completed in 1938 in order to provide a more predictable supply of irrigation water to downstream users As a primary source of recharge to the groundwater, the Rio Grande, through much of its 100-km length in the Basin, loses water by seepage to the aquifer [49][50][51][52][53]. When the river has water in it, seepage to the aquifer can maintain groundwater levels.…”

“…Previous seepage investigations conducted during steady, low-flow conditions indicate that the Rio Grande is often a losing stream along most of the 100-km reach in the Mesilla Valley but with gains documented at the mouth of Selden Canyon and near the Paso del Norte [38,53]. Surface-water seepage measurements from the Rio Grande have typically been collected in the winter and range from about 0.2 to 1.4 m 3 /s between Selden Canyon and Paso del Norte [11,15,39,[49][50][51][52]. Increases in streamflow in the Rio Grande are rapidly followed by increases in groundwater elevations in the shallow subsurface near the Rio Grande, and recent groundwater declines throughout the shallow aquifer are closely related to reductions in surface-water availability [11].…”

“…The annual evaporation from the river surface was estimated to be 13 hm 3 /year by Frenzel and Kaehler (1992) [14] and was used for this budget term. Finally, surface-water seepage measurements from the Rio Grande have typically been collected in the winter and range from about 1.2 to 80 hm 3 /year [11,15,39,[49][50][51][52]. A value of 31 hm 3 /year was selected to balance the annual surface-water budget for the three periods and the selection of that value is supported by the frequency of seepage measurements that were reported close to that value.…”