Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed resulting from drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Put up via Getty Images

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

The decision will keep extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned 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 levels at each reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on file. Lake Powell's water level is at the moment at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the extent drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electricity for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will not be able to generate electricity.

The delay is anticipated to guard operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officers stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Beneath a separate plan, officials will also release 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 assist save water, protect the dam's capacity to provide hydropower and provide officials with extra time to figure out the best way to function the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We've got by no means taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see in the present day, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officers last 12 months 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 nearly three-quarters of the accessible 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 address declining water levels at Lake Powell.

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

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades in the region in at the least 1,200 years, with conditions prone to proceed through 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought's severity is attributable to human-caused local weather change.

"Our local weather is altering, our actions are responsible for that, and we have now to take responsible action to respond," Trujillo said. "We all need to work collectively to protect the resources we now have and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."