Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a consequence of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Submit through Getty Photos

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

The choice will hold extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as a substitute of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different primary reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on report. Lake Powell's water level is at present at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the extent drops below 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will no longer be able to generate electricity.

The delay is expected to guard operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials said during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep almost 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 mentioned the actions will help save water, defend the dam's skill to supply hydropower and supply officials with extra time to figure out tips on how to function the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have now by no means taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. "However the conditions we see at the moment, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate action."

Federal officials final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have largely 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 government was contemplating taking emergency action to handle declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that momentary 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 20 years within the region in at the very least 1,200 years, with conditions prone 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 climate change.

"Our climate is changing, our actions are liable for that, and we now have to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo said. "We all must work together to guard the resources we now have and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."