Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed resulting from drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Publish via Getty Images

The federal government on Tuesday announced it's going to delay the discharge of water from one of the Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can temporarily tackle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will maintain more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different primary reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on file. Lake Powell's water degree is at present at an elevation of three,523 ft. If the level drops below 3,490 toes, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million clients within the inland West, will not be capable to generate electrical energy.

The delay is anticipated to guard operations on the dam for next 12 months, officers mentioned during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will preserve almost 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 located upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials stated the actions will assist save water, defend the dam's skill to produce hydropower and supply officers with more time to determine operate the dam at decrease water levels.

"We now have never taken this step before within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the circumstances we see at the moment, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officers last yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million folks and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use almost three-quarters of the available water provide 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 motion to deal with declining water ranges 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 carried out without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the area in at least 1,200 years, with conditions likely to continue 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 altering, our actions are answerable for that, and we now have to take accountable motion to respond," Trujillo said. "We all need to work together to guard the sources we have now and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."