Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed because of drought

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

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

The federal government on Tuesday announced it can delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that will temporarily address declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep 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 main reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on record. Lake Powell's water degree is at the moment at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the level drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electricity for about 5.8 million prospects 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, officers mentioned during a press briefing on Tuesday, and can preserve nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officials can even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir positioned upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials mentioned the actions will help save water, defend the dam's means to supply hydropower and supply officers with more time to figure out find out how to operate the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have now never taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "However the conditions we see in the present day, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials final 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater 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 considering taking emergency action to deal with declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

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

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the region in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions more likely to proceed by 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 accountable for that, and we have to take accountable motion to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "We all must work collectively to protect the sources we now have and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."