Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed because 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 Submit through Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it will delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that will briefly deal with declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will preserve more 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 levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water degree is currently at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the level drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will now not be able to generate electricity.

The delay is anticipated to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials mentioned during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will maintain nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under 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 assist save water, defend the dam's means to produce hydropower and provide officers with extra time to determine how one can function the dam at lower water levels.

"We've got 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 present, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officials last yr 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 in 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 contemplating taking emergency motion to handle declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that momentary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in a minimum of 1,200 years, with situations prone to continue by 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 altering, our actions are answerable for that, and we have to take responsible action to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "All of us have to work together to guard the resources we have now and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."