Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed attributable to drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Submit via Getty Images

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it should delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can quickly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located 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 ranges on document. Lake Powell's water degree is at present at an elevation of 3,523 toes. If the extent drops under 3,490 feet, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will no longer be capable of generate electricity.

The delay is predicted to guard operations on the dam for next 12 months, officials said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will preserve practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officials will even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir positioned upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers stated the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's ability to produce hydropower and provide officers with more time to determine the way to function the dam at decrease water levels.

"We now have never taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "However the conditions we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officials last yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million folks and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use almost three-quarters of the accessible water provide to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the federal government was contemplating taking emergency action 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 temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years within the region in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions more likely to continue 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 local weather is changing, our actions are accountable for that, and now we have to take responsible motion to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us must work together to guard the assets we've got and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."