Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed due to drought

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

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

The federal government on Tuesday announced it would delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can quickly 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 an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on record. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 toes. If the extent drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million customers within the inland West, will not be capable of generate electricity.

The delay is expected to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials mentioned during a press briefing on Tuesday, and can hold practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Below a separate plan, officers can even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers said the actions will help save water, shield the dam's means to supply hydropower and provide officers with more time to determine how one can function the dam at lower water ranges.

"We have by no means taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate action."

Federal officers last 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the available water provide to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the government was contemplating taking emergency action to deal with declining water ranges 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 applied with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years in the region in at the least 1,200 years, with conditions 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 local weather is changing, our actions are chargeable for that, and we've got to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo stated. "We all must work collectively to guard the resources now we have and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."