NASA\u2019s Landsat 8 satellite has captured images of New Mexico\u2019s largest water reservoir – the Elephant Butte reservoir – that show it at drastic lows, according to a release. Drought is to blame for the decrease in water levels, experts say.<\/p>\n
Adding to the mix were low snow melt from mountains and 90-degree temperatures. They combined to drop water levels in Elephant Butte to the lowest in 40 years. The reservoir\u2019s highest level was 2.2 million acre-feet of water in the late 80s, but today that level sits at just above 65,000 acre-feet.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s largest reservoir running low isn\u2019t New Mexico\u2019s only problem from drought complications. The state is currently the driest in America, with 80 percent of its land feeling some of the most extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Image:\u00a0Landsat image of Elephant Butte Reservoir (Credit: USGS)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA\u2019s Landsat 8 satellite has captured images of New Mexico\u2019s largest water reservoir – the Elephant Butte reservoir – that show it at drastic lows, according to a release. Drought is to blame for the decrease in water levels, experts say. Adding to the mix were low snow melt from mountains and 90-degree temperatures. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":13989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,7],"tags":[346],"class_list":["post-13988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakes-reservoirs","category-news","tag-lakes-reservoirs"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n