saw another week of gradual decline, holding 4,552 acrefeet of water as of 10:15 a.m. on December 15, according to the latest U.S. Geological Survey data. That’s down from 4,578 acre-feet recorded on December 8, continuing the steady downward trend the reservoir has followed through most of fall and early winter.
The week’s graph shows small daily fluctuations, but no meaningful rise in volume, a reflection of limited precipitation and persistent regional drought.
The Rio San Jose remained unchanged at 1.91 feet throughout the week, with the latest reading taken at 10:45 a.m. on December 15. The river has held at or near this height for months, with only minor short-term variations recorded during the summer monsoon.
The consistency of the readings shows the river has a stable but shallow flow across the watershed.
The paired USGS charts for December 8–15 illustrate both patterns clearly: a slow, incremental decline at Bluewater and a flat, steady line for the Rio San Jose. Together, they continue to prove Cibola is a county entering winter with low water reserves and no significant hydrologic recovery to date.
With 100 percent of Cibola County still in drought, both monitoring sites remain essential for tracking how local water conditions evolve as temperatures drop and snowpack begins to build in the Zuni and Bluewater basins.