Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a result 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 Publish by way of Getty Images

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it is going to delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that may temporarily address declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will hold extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated 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 each reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on file. Lake Powell's water stage is presently at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the level drops beneath 3,490 ft, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million prospects in the inland West, will not be capable of generate electrical energy.

The delay is expected to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officers said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will hold practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Below a separate plan, officers may also release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will help save water, shield the dam's means to supply hydropower and supply officials with extra time to determine methods to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We have now by no means taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see as we speak, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials last 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater 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 nearly three-quarters of the out there 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 action to handle declining water levels 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 with out triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in at the least 1,200 years, with conditions likely to continue through 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 answerable for that, and we have to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us must work collectively to protect the resources we now have and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."