A large reservoir in the Rio Grande Valley hit record-low levels in summer 2024, as the surrounding area in southern Texas and northern Mexico faced severe drought conditions.
A large reservoir in the Rio Grande Valley hit record-low levels in summer 2024, as the surrounding area in southern Texas and northern Mexico faced severe drought conditions. Amistad Reservoir, which straddles the U.S.–Mexico border, reached its lowest ever water level on July 17, 2024, when it held less than one-quarter of its capacity.
The image above (right) shows the lake on August 19, 2024, near its record-low level. For comparison, the other image (left) shows it in August 2016, during one of the higher periods in the past decade, which was still below its normal (or conservation) storage capacity. They were acquired by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 (left) and the OLI-2 on Landsat 9 (right).
This reservoir of the Rio Grande is formed by a dam approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) long and up to 250 feet (75 meters) high. Completed in 1969, it was built jointly by the U.S. and Mexico to control floods, produce energy, and provide water for irrigation and municipal use.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Michala Garrison
