Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch 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 Post via Getty Photographs

The federal government on Tuesday announced it is going to delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that may quickly deal with declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The choice will maintain more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as a substitute of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on document. Lake Powell's water degree is currently at an elevation of three,523 feet. If the extent drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electricity for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will now not be able to generate electricity.

The delay is predicted to guard operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials stated during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Below a separate plan, officials will even 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, defend the dam's potential to supply hydropower and supply officers with more time to determine the best way to operate the dam at decrease water ranges.

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

Federal officers final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million folks and some 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have largely 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 contemplating taking emergency action to deal with declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years within the region in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions more likely 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 local weather is altering, our actions are liable for that, and now we have to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo stated. "All of us have to work collectively to protect the assets we now have and the declining water provides within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."