Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a consequence 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 Put up by way of Getty Images

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it'll delay the discharge of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may briefly deal with declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will hold more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as a substitute of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other main reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on file. Lake Powell's water degree is at the moment at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the extent drops below 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million clients within the inland West, will no longer be able to generate electrical energy.

The delay is predicted to guard operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Below a separate plan, officers can even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir positioned upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will assist save water, protect the dam's potential to supply hydropower and provide officers with more time to figure out methods to operate the dam at lower water levels.

"We now have by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt motion."

Federal officers final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million people and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the obtainable 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 motion to deal with 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 temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades in the region in not less than 1,200 years, with conditions more likely to continue through 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought's severity is attributable to human-caused local weather change.

"Our climate is changing, our actions are answerable for that, and we've to take responsible action to respond," Trujillo stated. "We all have to work collectively to protect the assets we have now and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."