Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed resulting from 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 by way of Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it is going to delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that can briefly handle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will keep more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different major reservoir.

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

The delay is anticipated to guard operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials mentioned throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officers may also release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials mentioned the actions will help save water, shield the dam's ability to supply hydropower and provide officials with more time to figure out tips on how to function the dam at lower water ranges.

"We now have by no means taken this step before within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "However the conditions we see at present, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt motion."

Federal officials last 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies 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 almost three-quarters of the out there 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 considering taking emergency motion to handle declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that momentary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented with out triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in at the very least 1,200 years, with conditions likely to continue by way 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 liable for that, and we've got to take responsible action to respond," Trujillo stated. "All of us have to work collectively to protect the resources we've and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."