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 Web page, Arizona.

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Post via Getty Pictures

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

The choice will preserve more 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 other primary reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on record. Lake Powell's water degree is currently at an elevation of three,523 feet. If the level drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electricity for about 5.8 million prospects within the inland West, will now not be capable of generate electricity.

The delay is anticipated to guard operations on the dam for next 12 months, officers stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will maintain practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Beneath a separate plan, officers may even release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials stated the actions will help save water, shield the dam's capability to provide hydropower and supply officers with extra time to determine the right way to function the dam at lower water ranges.

"Now we have by no means taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "However the situations we see right this moment, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt motion."

Federal officials final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater than 40 million folks and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the available 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 action to address declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that short-term reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented 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 very least 1,200 years, with conditions prone 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 chargeable for that, and we now have to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo stated. "We all must work collectively to guard the resources we've got and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."