Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water release delayed on account of drought

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

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

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

The choice will maintain more 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 main reservoir.

The actions come as water ranges at each reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on document. Lake Powell's water stage is presently at an elevation of 3,523 toes. If the extent drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electrical energy for about 5.8 million customers within the inland West, will not be able to generate electrical energy.

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

Officials mentioned the actions will help save water, shield the dam's means to supply hydropower and provide officials with more time to figure out learn how to function the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have now by no means taken this step earlier than within the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "But the conditions we see today, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take immediate action."

Federal officials last 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 in the West. The cuts have largely affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the obtainable 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 motion to address declining water ranges at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states despatched a letter to the Inside agreeing with the proposal and requesting that non permanent 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 twenty years within the region in at least 1,200 years, with situations more likely to proceed by 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 responsible for that, and we've got to take accountable action to reply," Trujillo said. "We all must work together to guard the sources we've and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities depend on."