Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed attributable to 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 by way of Getty Photos

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

The decision will preserve extra water in Lake Powell, the reservoir situated on the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, as an alternative of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river's other major reservoir.

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

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

Officials said the actions will help save water, protect the dam's ability to provide hydropower and supply officials with extra time to figure out learn how to operate the dam at decrease water levels.

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

Federal officers final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to greater than 40 million individuals 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 out there 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 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 implemented with out triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades within the area in not less than 1,200 years, with circumstances 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 local weather change.

"Our local weather is altering, our actions are liable for that, and we've got to take accountable motion to reply," Trujillo said. "All of us have to work together to protect the resources we've and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on."