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 Publish by way of Getty Photos

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it would delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that may briefly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned on 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 both reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on document. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 toes. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 ft, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will no longer have the ability to generate electrical energy.

The delay is predicted to protect operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officials will also launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials said the actions will help save water, defend the dam's skill to provide hydropower and supply officials with extra time to figure out tips on how to operate the dam at lower water levels.

"We have now by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. "However the circumstances we see right this moment, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt motion."

Federal officials final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the out there 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 deal with declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years within the area in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions prone to proceed via 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 altering, our actions are accountable for that, and now we have to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo said. "We all need to work collectively to guard the resources we've got and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."