Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a result 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 via Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it can delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can quickly address declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will preserve extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

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

The delay is predicted to protect operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officers mentioned during a press briefing on Tuesday, and can preserve practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Beneath a separate plan, officials will even launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will help save water, defend the dam's capacity to provide hydropower and supply officers with more time to figure out find out how to operate the dam at lower water ranges.

"We now have never taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "However the situations we see at present, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officers last 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million folks and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use almost three-quarters of the accessible 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 ranges 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 applied without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in no less than 1,200 years, with circumstances more likely to proceed through 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 liable for that, and we've got to take responsible action to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us have to work collectively to protect the resources we have now and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."