Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed on account of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Publish through Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it can delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can temporarily deal with declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain extra 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 other main reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water level is presently at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will not be capable to generate electrical energy.

The delay is predicted to guard operations on the dam for next 12 months, officers stated during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will preserve practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officers will 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, protect the dam's ability to produce hydropower and supply officials with more time to figure out find out how to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We now have never taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officers last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly 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 deal with 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 carried out without triggering further 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 more 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 altering, our actions are answerable for that, and now we have to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us must work together to protect the sources we've and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."