Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed resulting from drought

Water ranges are at a historic low at Lake Powell on April 5, 2022 in Page, Arizona.

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Put up via Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it's going to delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that may briefly deal with declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on report. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million prospects within the inland West, will not have the ability to generate electricity.

The delay is predicted to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officers stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can maintain almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officers can even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir positioned upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers stated the actions will help save water, protect the dam's potential to supply hydropower and supply officials with extra time to determine methods to function the dam at lower water levels.

"We've got by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see right now, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officers final 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million individuals and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the obtainable water provide to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the federal government was contemplating taking emergency motion to deal with declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be carried out with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades within the area in at the least 1,200 years, with circumstances likely to continue by means of 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought's severity is attributable to human-caused climate change.

"Our local weather is changing, our actions are liable for that, and we have to take responsible motion to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "We all need to work together to guard the assets we now have and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."