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 Post by way of Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it should delay the discharge of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that will temporarily handle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will hold 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 levels on file. Lake Powell's water level is presently at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the level drops under 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will now not be capable to generate electrical energy.

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

Officers stated the actions will help save water, defend the dam's capability to produce hydropower and supply officers with extra time to determine how to operate the dam at lower water ranges.

"We now have never taken this step before within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see today, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater than 40 million individuals and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the available water supply to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the government was considering taking emergency motion to deal with 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 non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years within the region in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions prone to proceed by way of 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 altering, our actions are accountable for that, and now we have to take responsible motion to respond," Trujillo stated. "All of us need to work collectively to protect the resources we have now and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."