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 Page, Arizona.

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

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it can delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that will quickly address declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as a substitute of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different major reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water stage is at the moment at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the level drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million prospects within the inland West, will now not be capable of generate electrical energy.

The delay is expected to protect operations on the dam for next 12 months, officers said during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Beneath a separate plan, officials may also launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers stated the actions will help save water, protect the dam's capability to produce hydropower and supply officers with more time to determine how you can function the dam at lower water levels.

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

Federal officials final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million individuals and some 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly 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 federal government was considering taking emergency action to deal with 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 temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years within the area in not less than 1,200 years, with circumstances prone to continue by 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 changing, our actions are answerable for that, and we have now to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo said. "We all need to work collectively to guard the sources we have and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."