Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed because of drought

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

Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Publish through Getty Pictures

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it is going to delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's major reservoirs, an unprecedented motion that will briefly tackle declining reservoir ranges fueled by the historic Western drought.

The decision will hold more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other main reservoir.

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

The delay is predicted to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials mentioned throughout a press briefing on Tuesday, and will hold nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Below a separate plan, officials can even release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.

Officers mentioned the actions will assist save water, shield the dam's capability to produce hydropower and supply officials with more time to figure out methods to function the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have by no means taken this step before within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Division secretary Tanya Trujillo informed reporters on Tuesday. "But the situations we see immediately, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million folks and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use practically 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 contemplating 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 non permanent reductions in releases from Lake Powell be carried out without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the region in at the very least 1,200 years, with circumstances prone to continue by means 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 liable for that, and we've got to take accountable motion to reply," Trujillo said. "We all have to work collectively to protect the resources we have now and the declining water provides in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."