Coldwater Creek is an intermittently-flowing stream in northeastern New Mexico, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.

As far back as 1907, the USGS reported that Coldwater Creek is a dry sand bed most of the year.

[3] According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Coldwater Creek drains an area of 1,903 square miles (4,930 km2).

The lake is essentially dry most of the time, because of declining water table levels [5] and periodic droughts that have affected the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.

[b] As a result, the lake project (completed in 1978), was largely abandoned in 2010 when picnic tables and other structures were demolished for safety reasons.