Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed attributable to drought

Water ranges are at a historic low at Lake Powell on April 5, 2022 in Web page, Arizona.

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Post via Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it will delay the release of water from one of many Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may temporarily tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will maintain more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated at 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 levels on file. Lake Powell's water degree is presently at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the level drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million prospects within the inland West, will not be able to generate electrical energy.

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

Officers stated the actions will help save water, protect the dam's capacity to supply hydropower and supply officers with extra time to determine the way to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

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

Federal officers final 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the accessible water supply to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the government was considering taking emergency action to address declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent 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 two decades within the area in at least 1,200 years, with circumstances more likely 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 local weather is changing, our actions are responsible for that, and we have now to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo stated. "All of us have to work collectively to guard the sources we have and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."