Lake Powell officers take emergency steps to protect hydropower from Glen Canyon Dam

Step one is releasing more water from upstream on the Colorado River this 12 months. The second is water will be held again in Lake Powell itself, as a substitute of being sent to downstream states.

The US Bureau of Reclamation expects the dual actions will boost Lake Powell by almost 1 million acre-feet of water. The reservoir contained about 5.8 million acre-feet of water as of Tuesday, in line with the bureau, although its full capacity is around 25 million acre-feet.

Without the emergency steps, the bureau estimated there was a couple of 25% likelihood the Glen Canyon Dam may have stopped producing hydropower by January. The dam generates energy for as many as 5.8 million houses and companies in seven states.

The company said in a press release Tuesday's decision was intended to guard "hydropower generation, the power's key infrastructure, and the water provide for town of Web page, Arizona, and the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation."

The emergency actions will buy the federal authorities 12 months as it considers longer-term measures.

"We have now by no means taken this step earlier than, however the potential threat on the horizon calls for immediate motion," Assistant Secretary of Water and Science, Tanya Trujillo advised reporters. "We need to work collectively to stabilize the reservoir earlier than we face a larger crisis."

Lake Powell has dropped around 100 ft within the last three years because the West has been besieged by drought. As the water degree has fallen, Glen Canyon Dam has lost about 16% of its capability to generate power.

Bryan Hill, common supervisor of the general public power utility in Web page, Arizona, likened the situation to judgment day.

"We're knocking on the door of judgment day," Hill beforehand instructed CNN. "Judgment day being when we don't have any water to present anybody."

The decisions made for Lake Powell also affect its downstream neighbor, Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir within the country.

Water cuts for many who depend on Lake Mead started in January, and Tuesday's determination could result in additional restrictions.

Lake Mead's water stage is now low enough to reveal one of the reservoir's unique, 1971 water consumption valves for the primary time. The valve can now not draw water, in response to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the agency responsible for managing water resources for two.2 million individuals in southern Nevada, including Las Vegas.

Officers over the weekend made another disturbing discovery introduced on by Lake Mead's plummeting water degree: a physique in a barrel police say is a probable homicide victim from the Nineteen Eighties.

"The lake has drained dramatically over the past 15 years," said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Murder Lieutenant Ray Spencer. "It's seemingly that we will find extra our bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead" because the water degree drops extra.