Streamflow
Near normalRio Grande at Otowi Bridge streamflow
Daily mean discharge, Rio Grande basin, New Mexico
Data through Oct 15, 2026 · source last checked Oct 17, 2026 · page revised Oct 16, 2026
Cite
- Discharge
About this data
- Source
- US Geological Survey (USGS)
- Series
- Daily mean streamflow (discharge)
- Geography
- Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge
- Unit
- cfs
- Calculation
- Daily mean
- Last observation
- Oct 15, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 430 cfs, 8% above the 5-yr median.
Rio Grande discharge at Otowi Bridge fell to 430 cfs, down 50.4% week over week. It stands 26.5% above its level a month ago and 19.8% above a year ago, running 8% above the 5-year median.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 430 cfs | 867 cfs | -50.4% |
| Month over month | 430 cfs | 340 cfs | +26.5% |
| Year over year | 430 cfs | 359 cfs | +19.8% |
| vs 5-yr median | 430 cfs | 397 cfs | +8.3% |
| Reading | Discharge |
|---|---|
| Lowest on record for this week | 244 cfs |
| Median for this week | 397 cfs |
| Highest on record for this week | 1,550 cfs |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge read 435 cfs, down 56.3% on the week. Flow is up 120.8% over the past month and up 57.6% year-over-year, running 7% above the 5-year median.
Week of Oct 7, 2026
Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge flowed at 996 cfs, down 30.8% on the week but 157% above its 5-year median. Year over year, the flow is up 372.0%.
Week of Sep 30, 2026
Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge discharged 1,440 cfs, up 93% on the week and 313% above the 5-year median. The flow jumped 388% month-over-month from 295 cfs.
Week of Sep 23, 2026
Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge ran at 746 cfs, up 189% on the week from 258 cfs. The gauge is 67% above its 5-year median. Flows rose 268% month over month and 114% year over year.
About Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge
The Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge ran 430 cfs on Oct 15, 2026: 430 cubic feet of water passing the gauge every second (what cfs means), or about 853 acre-feet a day. That is 8% above the 5-year median of 397 cfs for the date. A month earlier it ran 340 cfs on Sep 15, 2026, so the river has risen 26% since then. Below Otowi Bridge the river passes Cochiti Dam and the Middle Rio Grande valley on its way to Elephant Butte Reservoir, the main storage of the Rio Grande Project in southern New Mexico.
USGS gage 08313000 measures the Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge in northern New Mexico, below the Rio Chama confluence and above Cochiti Dam. It is the accounting gage for the Rio Grande Compact: New Mexico's delivery obligation to Texas is calculated from the flow recorded here, which makes it one of the most legally consequential streamflow stations in the country.
Above it are the San Juan-Chama transbasin diversion, which imports Colorado River water into the Rio Grande system, and El Vado and Abiquiu reservoirs on the Chama. A normal year peaks with snowmelt from the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountains in May, then falls through a low summer punctuated by monsoon storm pulses in July and August. A weak spring peak here has immediate legal consequences, because a shortfall accrues as compact debt that New Mexico has to repay from storage in a later year.