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 Post via Getty Photographs

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it is going to delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that can quickly tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will hold extra 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 different major reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on record. Lake Powell's water stage is presently at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 toes, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million prospects within the inland West, will now not be capable of generate electrical energy.

The delay is expected to protect operations on the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will preserve almost 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officials may also launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir situated upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers said the actions will help save water, defend the dam's skill to produce hydropower and supply officials with more time to figure out find out how to function the dam at decrease water ranges.

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

Federal officials final yr 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 within the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the out there 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 despatched a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that momentary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied with out triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the region in at the least 1,200 years, with situations prone to proceed by way of 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 responsible for that, and we have now to take responsible motion to reply," Trujillo mentioned. "We all must work collectively to protect the resources we've and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."