Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed on account 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 announced it can delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may briefly handle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will preserve 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 stage is currently at an elevation of three,523 feet. If the level drops under 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million clients within the inland West, will now not be able to generate electricity.

The delay is predicted to guard operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can hold practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Beneath a separate plan, officers will 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 assist save water, protect the dam's means to supply hydropower and provide officials with extra time to determine learn how to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We now have by no means taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see as we speak, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officers final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million folks and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have principally 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 motion to address 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 momentary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented with out triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years within the region in not less than 1,200 years, with situations likely to proceed via 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. "All of us must work collectively to guard the assets now we have and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."