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 Submit by way of Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it should delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that can briefly handle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located on 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 levels at each reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on file. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will no longer be able to generate electricity.

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

Officers said the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's capability to provide hydropower and provide officials with extra time to figure out tips on how to function the dam at lower water levels.

"Now we have never taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate action."

Federal officials last yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million people and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically 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 motion to address declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in not less than 1,200 years, with situations likely 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 accountable for that, and we have now to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo stated. "All of us need to work collectively to guard the resources we've got and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."