Elephant Butte storage dropped to 29,804 af this week, down 25% on the week and 77% below its 5-year median, per the US Bureau of Reclamation. No other site in the digest sits further below its 5-year median. The reservoir, a primary storage buffer for Rio Grande irrigation deliveries in southern New Mexico, is now below 30,000 af mid-irrigation season.

• Dolores River (Colorado basin): 157 cfs, up 3,117% week over week, 63% above the 5-yr median (USGS).
• Bear River (Great Basin): 306 cfs, up 108% on the week, 166% above the 5-yr median (USGS).
• Blue Mesa Reservoir: 244,556 af, down 4% on the week, 54% below the 5-yr median (Bureau of Reclamation). Drawdown continues well below normal for this period.
• Colorado drought: 91% of the state in D1-or-worse drought, 50 pts above the 5-yr median, unchanged week over week (US Drought Monitor).
• San Joaquin Valley counties: Fresno, Kern and Kings counties each read 0% drought coverage, running 38 to 99 pts below their respective 5-yr medians (US Drought Monitor). No week-over-week change.

Allocations (standing status): CVP north-of-Delta irrigation, M&I and American River M&I (Folsom) allocations remain at 100%, per the Bureau of Reclamation announcement of Feb. 26. SWP statewide allocation stands at 45%, per the Department of Water Resources announcement of May 1. Neither changed this week.

Data note: Two CVP data series have not updated in over two weeks. Operational figures from those series should be treated as stale until the Bureau of Reclamation refreshes them.

The Waterline reports public data from the US Bureau of Reclamation, USGS, the US Drought Monitor, and state water agencies. It is not investment, legal, or water-rights advice. Allocations and drought classes are reported as published by their agencies; we do not forecast them.