Home

Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a consequence of drought


Warning: Undefined variable $post_id in /home/webpages/lima-city/booktips/wordpress_de-2022-03-17-33f52d/wp-content/themes/fast-press/single.php on line 26
Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed on account of drought
2022-05-05 01:59:17
#Lake #Powell #Glen #Canyon #Dam #water #release #delayed #due #drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Put up via Getty Images

The federal authorities on Tuesday introduced it will delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that will briefly address declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will hold extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir positioned at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's different major reservoir.

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

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

Officers stated the actions will help save water, shield the dam's means to produce hydropower and provide officers with extra time to figure out how to operate the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Interior Division secretary Tanya Trujillo instructed reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see right now, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials final yr ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands within the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the out there 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 action to deal with declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent 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 region in a minimum of 1,200 years, with conditions likely to continue via 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 changing, our actions are accountable for that, and we've to take responsible motion to respond," Trujillo said. "All of us have to work collectively to guard the sources we've got and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."


Quelle: www.cnbc.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Themenrelevanz [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x] [x] [x]