Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed as a result of 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 through Getty Images

The federal authorities on Tuesday announced it is going to delay the discharge of water from one of many Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that will quickly tackle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will keep extra 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 different primary reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at each reservoirs reached their lowest levels on record. Lake Powell's water level is at present at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the extent drops under 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers within the inland West, will no longer be capable to generate electricity.

The delay is expected to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officers said throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will hold practically 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Underneath a separate plan, officers will also launch about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream on the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officials stated the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's capability to provide hydropower and supply officials with extra time to figure out how you can operate the dam at lower water levels.

"We now have never taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "However the circumstances we see as we speak, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate motion."

Federal officials final 12 months ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to greater than 40 million folks 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 federal government was contemplating 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 short-term reductions in releases from Lake Powell be applied with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest twenty years within the area in no less than 1,200 years, with circumstances 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 chargeable for that, and we've got to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo said. "All of us must work collectively to protect the resources now we have and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities rely on."