Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed as a consequence of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Publish through Getty Pictures

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it's going to delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can quickly tackle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will keep extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other primary reservoir.

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

The delay is predicted to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will hold almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officers can even release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials mentioned the actions will help save water, shield the dam's capability to produce hydropower and provide officers with more time to determine the way to operate the dam at lower water levels.

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

Federal officers last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million individuals and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use almost three-quarters of the available 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 contemplating taking emergency motion to address 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 non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades within the area in at the least 1,200 years, with situations likely to proceed by way 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 altering, our actions are responsible for that, and now we have to take accountable action to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "We all must work together to protect the assets we have now and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."