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 Put up through Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it will delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that can quickly handle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will preserve extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different primary reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on report. Lake Powell's water level is presently at an elevation of three,523 toes. If the level drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million prospects 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 next 12 months, officers mentioned throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officials may even release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will help save water, shield the dam's capability to produce hydropower and supply officials with extra time to determine the way to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We've got by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "However the conditions we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials last yr 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 in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the obtainable 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 considering 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 non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied with out 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 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 local weather change.

"Our climate is altering, our actions are responsible for that, and we've to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo stated. "All of us need to work together to protect the assets we now have and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."