Lake Powell officers take emergency steps to preserve hydropower from Glen Canyon Dam

Step one is releasing more water from upstream on the Colorado River this year. The second is water will be held back in Lake Powell itself, instead of being despatched to downstream states.

The US Bureau of Reclamation expects the twin actions will increase Lake Powell by practically 1 million acre-feet of water. The reservoir contained about 5.8 million acre-feet of water as of Tuesday, in line with the bureau, although its full capacity is around 25 million acre-feet.

With out the emergency steps, the bureau estimated there was a couple of 25% chance the Glen Canyon Dam might have stopped producing hydropower by January. The dam generates energy for as many as 5.8 million properties and businesses in seven states.

The agency said in an announcement Tuesday's determination was supposed to guard "hydropower technology, the power's key infrastructure, and the water provide for town of Page, Arizona, and the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation."

The emergency actions will purchase the federal government 12 months because it considers longer-term measures.

"We now have never taken this step before, however the potential threat on the horizon calls for immediate motion," Assistant Secretary of Water and Science, Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters. "We have to work together to stabilize the reservoir earlier than we face a bigger disaster."

Lake Powell has dropped around 100 ft in the last three years as the West has been besieged by drought. As the water degree has fallen, Glen Canyon Dam has misplaced about 16% of its capability to generate power.

Bryan Hill, normal supervisor of the public power utility in Page, Arizona, likened the scenario to judgment day.

"We're knocking on the door of judgment day," Hill previously told CNN. "Judgment day being when we have no water to provide anybody."

The selections made for Lake Powell also affect its downstream neighbor, Lake Mead, which is the biggest reservoir within the country.

Water cuts for many who depend on Lake Mead began in January, and Tuesday's resolution might lead to additional restrictions.

Lake Mead's water stage is now low sufficient to show one of many reservoir's unique, 1971 water consumption valves for the primary time. The valve can now not draw water, in accordance with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency accountable for managing water sources for 2.2 million folks in southern Nevada, together with Las Vegas.

Officers over the weekend made another disturbing discovery introduced on by Lake Mead's plummeting water degree: a body in a barrel police say is a possible murder victim from the Nineteen Eighties.

"The lake has drained dramatically over the past 15 years," stated Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lieutenant Ray Spencer. "It is likely that we are going to find further bodies which have been dumped in Lake Mead" because the water stage drops extra.