Lake Powell Glen Canyon Dam water launch delayed due to 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 Submit via Getty Photos

The federal government on Tuesday introduced it would delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River's main reservoirs, an unprecedented action that can briefly handle declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.

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

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest ranges on record. Lake Powell's water stage is at the moment at an elevation of 3,523 ft. If the level drops beneath 3,490 feet, the so-called minimal energy pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which provides electrical energy for about 5.8 million prospects in the inland West, will not be capable of generate electricity.

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

Officials mentioned the actions will help save water, defend the dam's ability to produce hydropower and provide officials with extra time to figure out operate the dam at decrease water levels.

"We have by no means taken this step earlier than in the Colorado Basin," assistant Inside Department secretary Tanya Trujillo advised reporters on Tuesday. "However the situations we see as we speak, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action."

Federal officials final year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to more than 40 million people and a few 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have principally affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the available water provide 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 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 carried out without triggering additional water cuts in any of the states.

The megadrought within the western U.S. has fueled the driest 20 years in the region in no less than 1,200 years, with situations more likely to proceed by means 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 climate is altering, our actions are liable for that, and we have now to take accountable action to respond," Trujillo mentioned. "We all have to work collectively to protect the resources we've got and the declining water supplies within the Colorado River that our communities depend on."