Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed resulting from drought

Water levels are at a historic low at Lake Powell on April 5, 2022 in Web page, Arizona.

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Post via Getty Images

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it would delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that may quickly tackle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will maintain extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other main reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on report. Lake Powell's water level is presently at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the level drops under 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will now not be able to generate electrical energy.

The delay is anticipated to protect operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can hold practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officials may also release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers stated the actions will assist save water, protect the dam's capability to provide hydropower and supply officials with more time to figure out the best way to function the dam at lower water levels.

"We've by no means taken this step before within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "However the circumstances we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officers final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million individuals and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the obtainable water supply to irrigate their crops.

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

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented with out triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades within the area in not less than 1,200 years, with situations prone to continue by 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 chargeable for that, and we have now to take accountable motion to respond," Trujillo stated. "All of us need to work collectively to guard the assets now we have and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."