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 Publish by way of Getty Pictures

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it can delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that can briefly deal with declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain extra 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 different primary reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on report. Lake Powell's water level is at present at an elevation of three,523 toes. If the level drops below 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electricity for about 5.8 million clients in the inland West, will not be able to generate electricity.

The delay is predicted to protect operations at the dam for subsequent 12 months, officials stated throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and can preserve nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officials will 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 said the actions will help save water, shield the dam's potential to produce hydropower and supply officials with extra time to figure out find out how to operate the dam at decrease water levels.

"We've got never taken this step before in the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see at this time, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically three-quarters of the obtainable 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 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 short-term reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades within the region in not less than 1,200 years, with situations more likely to proceed via 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought's severity is attributable to human-caused local weather change.

"Our climate is altering, our actions are chargeable for that, and we have now to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo stated. "We all must work collectively to guard the assets we've got and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."