Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed because of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Submit via Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it is going to delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that will quickly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as a substitute of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different major reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on report. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will not be capable to generate electrical energy.

The delay is predicted to protect operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials said during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will preserve practically 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 situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials stated the actions will assist save water, protect the dam's capability to produce hydropower and provide officers with more time to figure out the way to operate the dam at lower water levels.

"We now have by no means taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "But the circumstances we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officers last 12 months 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 within the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the accessible 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 motion to deal with declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that short-term reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

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

"Our climate is changing, our actions are liable for that, and we now have to take accountable motion to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us have to work together to guard the sources we've and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."