Navajo Lake Is Filling Up Fast

Above, Navajo Lake last summer from the marina parking lot. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The water level of New Mexico's Navajo Lake looked pretty good to me last summer. Then again, I am not a lake water level expert.

My former roommate, Jessica and I rented a pontoon boat and had a great time boating on the lake. We camped at the Cottonwood Campground nearby.

According to an article in The Journal, Navajo Lake is filling up to levels last seen about six years ago.

They wrote:

With 12 feet of snowpack in the San Juan Mountains and 3 feet of snow melting in the past 24 hours, the lakes and rivers of the southwest are full.

The Animas River below Aztec, as of June 1, had a depth of 9.67 feet and was running at 4,160 cubic feet per second. The depth dropped to 7.75 feet at Farmington with a flow rate of 3,610 cfs, according to the U.S. Geological Service’s National Water Information System.

The San Juan River near Bloomfield, as of June 1, had a depth of 7.91 feet and was flowing at 4,760 cfs with water releasing from Navajo Reservoir into the river. At the confluence on the Navajo Nation, the San Juan River’s rate increase to 8,230 cfs, and it was reported as being 11.18 feet deep, according to the USGS.

Despite water flowing out of Navajo Reservoir the lake’s capacity has been increasing. “For a while we were going up over a foot a day,” said Jarrett Johnson, president and CEO of Navajo Lake Marina.

The lake was sitting at 43 feet deep as of June 1, making it 34.61 feet higher than this time last year, Johnson said.

“The last time we were this high or higher was six years ago. It’s pretty good water,” Johnson said, adding the depth is dropping because of releases. “They’re releasing as fast as they can release. “We’ll probably start falling, but they’re going to stop the release on June 14. We may come down 5 or 6 feet, but we’ll still be in phenomenal shape.”

Above, the view from the pontoon boat. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

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