Feds Plan Extreme Measures to Keep Lake Powell Generating Electricity

On Tuesday , the Union governmentannouncedthat it will take unprecedented whole step to maintain water levels in Lake Powell and stave off an electricity supply cataclysm for the Southwest .

The Bureau of Reclamation will release an superfluous 500,000 acre - feet of water into Lake Powell from the upstream Flaming Gorge Reservoir . Another 480,000 Akko - feet of water in Lake Powell that would have otherwise been sent downstream to Lake Mead will be contain back . In total , the water contribute to Lake Powell will be enough to fill up more than 483,000 Olympic - size swimming pools .

The actions get along amidongoing , criminal record drought(exacerbated byclimate change ) in the U.S. Southwest . The piddle levels in bothLake PowellandLake Meadare the down in the mouth since the reservoirs along the Colorado River were first filled .

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam in August 2019. The water level is even lower now. The newest federal efforts to keep the dam’s hydropower pumping are only projected to be enough for the next 12 months.

On top of put up drink piddle for one thousand thousand of people reliant on theColorado River Basin organization , Lake Powell also provides electricityfor about 5.8 millionhouseholds and business across the western U.S. That power comes from Glen Canyon Dam ’s hydroelectric output .

But the dkm can onlyproduce electricityif the reservoir ’s water level isat or above 3,490 feet . Lake Mead , on the other hand , can continue powering its Hoover Dam hydroelectric operation until an altitude of between 925 and 950 feet . As of writing this , Lake Powell ’s pee level is sittingaround 3,523 feetabove sea level , and Lake Mead is atabout 1,054 substructure .

The decision to hold 480,000 acre - feet of water system in Lake Powellis a historical one . “ We have never taken this pace before in the Colorado River Basin . But , the conditions we see today and the likely risk we see on the skyline demand that we take prompt action , ” saidTanya Trujillo , the Interior Department ’s helper secretary for water and science , during a press conference yesterday .

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It ’s also a decision that will have downstream effects for Lake Mead and the rest of theLower Colorado River Basin . Lake Powell releases8.23 million acre - feetof water into Lake Mead each year , so this is a near 6 % reducing in that exchange . People in Arizona , Nevada , California , and parts of Mexico bank on Lake Mead and the depleted Colorado River for water , andmuch of the Southwestisalready underrestrictions meant to help keep the supply .

No new limitation were announced along with Tuesday ’s program , but “ water substance abuser in Arizona , California , and Nevada will continue to make all the involve shortage step-down and pee saving contributions in accordance with the Basin ’s 2019 drouth contingency program and the 2007 interim guideline , ” said Trujillo .

“ The action mechanism choose today will save water in Lake Powell to facilitate protect the ability to generate hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam . And they will provide us more time to build noesis and strategy for how to operate the dekametre at lower grade that we may be pick up in the future very shortly , ” she added . She specify that the well-nigh 1,000,000 Accho - feet of additional weewee in Lake Powell should be able-bodied to keep Glen Canyon Dam running for the next year .

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But beyond the next 12 months , things persist uncertain . “ We will make informed decisiveness base on the hydrology that we see next year , based on the extra cooperative criterion that we ’re able to evolve with our collaborator , and we will manage in that way going forward , ” Trujillo said . “ We are look at this action today because our mood is interchange . Our actions are responsible for that and we have to take responsible for action to respond . ”

On a similar note , Bureau of Reclamation regional managing director , Wayne Pullan , said in the briefing that “ those who plan , designed , and construct these facilities could not have look to the challenge raised by mood alteration . ”

And , although certainly true that climate change is bring to the West ’s drought problem , it’salso honest thatLake Powell and Lake Mead lie down in comeupance . The source are in region that werenever naturallyequipped to supply H2O for zillion of people . The baseline for Nevada , Arizona , and Utah is dry , and if we do n’t call the origin causes of human - caused climate change , thefuture looks even drier .

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