Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed due to drought

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

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

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it'll delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may briefly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will preserve more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different main reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water level is presently at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the level drops under 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will no longer be able to generate electrical energy.

The delay is anticipated to protect operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can hold nearly 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 at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials stated the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's means to supply hydropower and supply officials with extra time to determine learn how to function the dam at lower water ranges.

"Now we have never taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see today, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt motion."

Federal officials last yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater 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 federal government was contemplating taking emergency action to handle 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 short-term reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years in the area in no less than 1,200 years, with situations likely to proceed 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 climate is changing, our actions are liable for that, and we have now to take responsible motion to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "We all must work together to guard the sources we've and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."