Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed on account of 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 Publish by way of Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it should delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can briefly address declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other primary reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water level is at the moment at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the level drops beneath 3,490 ft, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients within the inland West, will now not be capable of generate electrical energy.

The delay is anticipated to guard operations at the dam for next 12 months, officers stated during a press briefing on Tuesday, and can keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officers may also launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir positioned upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers said the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's ability to produce hydropower and provide officers with extra time to determine methods to function the dam at lower water levels.

"We've never taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see today, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate action."

Federal officers last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically 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 non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be carried out with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years in the area in a minimum of 1,200 years, with situations likely to proceed by 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought's severity is attributable to human-caused climate change.

"Our local weather is altering, our actions are responsible for that, and we now have to take accountable motion to respond," Trujillo stated. "We all need to work together to guard the assets we've and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."