Elephant Butte Reservoir is the largest reservoir in the U.S. state of New Mexico, 130 miles (289 km) from El Paso, Texas, and north of Truth or Consequences.
The reservoir began filling in 1915, and at full capacity became the largest man-made lake in the world. Today, the reservoir's storage remains crucial to the Rio Grande as it provides power and irrigation water to New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.
It is impounded by Elephant Butte Dam and became part of the largest state park in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake State Park, in 1964. Before it was known as Elephant Butte, there were three prospective names: Lake Esperanza, Lake Hall, and Lake Engle. Ultimately, Elephant Butte Reservoir was named after the Elephant-shaped butte in its territory.
The reservoir can hold of water It provides irrigation to 178,000 acres (720 km<sup>2</sup>) of land.
The reservoir attracts an abundance of waterbirds and shorebirds, particularly during fall and spring migration along the surrounding marinas. Common bird species include American White Pelicans, Gulls,Terns, Waders, Loons, Waterfowl, Grebes and Ducks. <gallery perrow="3" mode="packed-hover" caption="Shorebirds found in Elephant Butte Reservoir">
File:Mexican duck (female).jpg|alt=Mallard Duck|Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
File:Gavia immer1 BS.jpg|Loon (Gavia Immer)
File:Semipalmated sandpiper at JBWR (30545).jpg|Wader (Charadriiformes)
File:American White Pelican (Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds).jpg|White American Pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)
File:Seagull July 2014-2.jpg|Gull (Larus)
File:Common tern landing on a branch.jpg|Tern (Sternidae)
</gallery>The reservoir is a popular fishing spot, home to a variety of species including Striped bass, White bass, Largemouth bass, Smallmouth bass White Crappie, Bluegill, Walleye, Channel catfish, Blue Catfish.<gallery mode="packed-hover">
File:Smallmouth Bass(Micropterus dolomieu) sam stukel.jpg|Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu)
File:White Bass (Morone chrysops).jpg|White Bass (Morone chrysops)
File:Lepomis macrochirus.jpg|Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
File:White crappie pomoxis annularis (white background).jpg|White Crappie (pomoxis annularis)
File:Walleye (Sander vitreus) (1).jpg|Walleye (Sander vitreus)
File:Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) Gavins Point.jpg|Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
File:Blue catfish ictalurus furcatus fish (white background).jpg|Blue catfish (ictalurus furcatus)
File:Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) (53118787625).jpg|Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
File:Micropterus salmoides with white background.jpg|Black Bass (Micropterus)
</gallery>
Etymology
The reservoir, dam, and surrounding area are named after a nearby volcanic core, "Elephant Butte," similarly to Devils Tower, in Wyoming. It is now an island in the lake when the water levels are high.
Dam Construction and History
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Before the construction of the reservoir and dam in 1911, Spanish settlers built the first acequias, an irrigation ditch, near today's Española, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Doña Ana, and Mesilla. In 1848, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo upheld Mexican citizens property rights, which included the acequias.
Elephant Butte Dam was constructed between 1911 and 1916, with the reservoir fill starting in 1915. It was a major engineering feat in its day, and the enormous concrete dam is the major feature of the Elephant Butte National Register Historic District. New Mexico State Parks operates a visitor center, which contains information on the construction of the dam. It was the second-largest irrigation dam ever built at the time of its construction and was surpassed only in 1970 by the Aswan Dam in Egypt, and the reservoir was the largest man-made lake on earth.
A large construction community sprang up, which included two worker camps, railways, water tanks, cableway systems, and the former administration building of the Bureau of Reclamation. The "camps" housed American and Mexican workers throughout the dam's construction. One of the former camps ended up under the reservoir itself; the other disappeared altogether. Moreover, many centuries-old communities and farming villages were "obliterated" by the filling of the reservoir and now lie at the bottom, including complete stone structures. Over 2,000 people were displaced by the filling of the reservoir.
thumb|425x425px|Water Resources of the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and their Development (1907).
By 1950, the "full production" use, prolonged droughts, and low snowpack melt from Coloradoan mountains caused water levels to fall below the 1915 levels, in both the reservoir and Upper Rio Grande. In recent years, Elephant Butte stores just 3% of its 2-million acre-foot capacity. Consequently, the drought effects are permanent for farming and local water sources. For example, the village of Magdalena, 100 miles north of the reservoir, was forced to use bottled water after its wells ran dry. Similarly, farmers in the surrounding area of El Paso are beginning to rely on costly groundwater sources instead of irrigation runoff to save crops like pecans and chiles.
thumb|394x394px|Elephant Butte Dam, on the Rio Grande.
The reservoir's low water levels are detrimental to the vitality of the Rio Grande, specifically the Lower Rio Grande, which has been considered one of the nation's most endangered bodies of water for decades. Per the 1906 Treaty Convention, the reservoir must provide 60,000 acre feet of water annually to Mexico's Acequias and Rio Grande, however climate change factors, like the rise in global temperature, prevent those measures from happening.