Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed because of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Post by way of Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it's going to delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may quickly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will preserve more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other primary reservoir.

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

The delay is expected to protect operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officers stated during a press briefing on Tuesday, and can maintain nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officials may even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will assist save water, protect the dam's capacity to produce hydropower and provide officers with more time to determine the best way to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

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

Federal officials final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater than 40 million folks 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 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 contemplating taking emergency motion to deal with declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that temporary 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 in the area in not less than 1,200 years, with circumstances 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 climate change.

"Our climate is changing, our actions are accountable for that, and we now have to take responsible motion to reply," Trujillo said. "We all need to work together to protect the assets we now have and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."