Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed due to 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 by way of Getty Pictures

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it's going to 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 keep extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on document. Lake Powell's water level is currently at an elevation of 3,523 toes. If the extent drops under 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million clients within the inland West, will not be capable to generate electrical energy.

The delay is anticipated to guard operations on the dam for next 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will maintain nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officials can 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 skill to produce hydropower and provide officers with more time to determine tips on how to function the dam at decrease water ranges.

"We now have never taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see right this moment, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials last 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million folks and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically 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 federal government was considering taking emergency action 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 implemented without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades in the area in at the least 1,200 years, with situations more likely to proceed 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 local weather is changing, our actions are responsible for that, and we now have to take accountable motion to reply," Trujillo said. "We all need to work together to protect the sources we have and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."