\n\t\t<\/aside>\nIn the face of a historically dry year and worsening conditions in the Colorado River Basin, federal and state officials are proposing severe drought response measures, including drastically reducing water releases from Lake Powell.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Reclamation announced Friday that it will likely cut Lake Powell water releases to 6 million acre-feet, the lowest amount in decades. The agency also plans to release additional water from Flaming Gorge, an upstream reservoir, to help raise Lake Powell’s water levels. The decision raises concerns about mandatory water cuts in states including Colorado, which could impact endangered fish populations and impact local communities and economies.<\/p>\n
Basin states, tribes, and partners continue to provide feedback on the proposed release. A final decision will be made next week, Reclamation said in a news release Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the severity of the risks facing the Colorado River System, it is imperative that we act quickly to protect the resources that provide water to 40 million people and support critical agriculture, hydropower production, tribal, wildlife, and recreational uses across the region,\u201d Andrea Travnicek, Reclamation’s Undersecretary for Water and Science, said in a news release.<\/p>\n
The Colorado River Basin, which stretches from the Colorado mountains to the Pacific Ocean, has received about a quarter of the snowfall this year compared to normal years. The thin snowpack also reduced the amount of water flowing into the basin’s two main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation’s largest reservoirs. Inflows into Lake Powell are likely to be lower, projected at just 2.78 million acre-feet, 29% of the historical average and among the lowest on record.<\/p>\n
As of Friday’s Bureau of Reclamation presentation, Powell had about a quarter of its storage capacity. Meade was holding about one-third of its capacity. As of Friday, only 36% of the water was stored in federal reservoirs across the basin.<\/p>\n
If Lake Powell’s water levels drop too much, critical infrastructure within the dam could be at risk and the hydroelectric power that provides affordable renewable energy to communities across the West could be shut down. <\/p>\n
Water levels in the giant reservoir are projected to fall below these key points by August, according to the federal government’s monthly forecast, known as the 24-Month Study, released Friday.<\/p>\n
Or it could be as early as June, the Upper Colorado River Commission said in a news release Friday. This commission is a joint body that includes upstream states such as Colorado, and is responsible for determining water policy in the upstream region.<\/p>\n
In response, the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that operates Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell, has already turned off about 598,000 acre-feet of water to maintain higher water levels in the reservoir. (One acre-foot is roughly equivalent to the annual water use of two to four urban households.)<\/p>\n
The water would flow downstream to Arizona, California, Nevada and northern Mexico. The agency plans to release the 24-month study in April by September 30, the end of the water year. <\/p>\n
But that’s not enough.<\/p>\n
To raise Lake Powell’s water levels, reclamation officials plan to release between 660,000 and 1 million acre-feet of additional water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border. As of Friday, the reservoir was 83% full, but releases over the next 12 months are expected to reduce it to 59% of its capacity.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, Reclamation had not planned to release water from two other upstream reservoirs – Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest reservoir, and Navajo Reservoir on the Colorado-New Mexico border – due to low water levels and poor inflow forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nThe agency also plans to release a total of 6 million acre-feet of water from Glen Canyon Dam in this water year, which begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
For months, Reclamation has been planning to release a total of 7.48 million acre-feet from the dam. Since 2015, releases have ranged from about 7.08 million acre-feet in 2022 to 9.26 million acre-feet in 2019, according to the Upper Colorado River Commission’s 2024 report.<\/p>\n
The reclamation has limited authority to reduce releases to 6 million acre-feet due to a short-term agreement created in 2024 in response to the basin’s prolonged drought, reduced flows, overuse and plummeting water storage.<\/p>\n
If federal officials release 6 million acre-feet of water this year, it could open the door to legal arguments from upstream states to force water cuts.<\/p>\n
Litigation, often referred to as the nuclear option, could mire the entire basin in years of legal uncertainty and costly court battles, while putting the future of the basin’s water in the hands of U.S. Supreme Court justices rather than local or state water managers.<\/p>\n
Response around the basin<\/h2>\n Politicians, water authorities, environmental groups and other water users have expressed widespread concern about the condition of the basin. <\/p>\n
Reductions in the amount of water released from Lake Powell will accelerate the decline in Lake Mead’s water levels, potentially reducing Hoover Dam’s hydropower capacity by 40% as early as this fall, Reclamation said.<\/p>\n
Upstream reservoirs may have more limited boat access than usual early in the season. In the Grand Canyon, reduced flows can affect rafting conditions and make fishing more difficult. Lower water levels may further restrict boating at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the agency said.<\/p>\n
In Colorado, cities and water utilities are asking residents with lawns and gardens to voluntarily conserve water. In some cases, drought restrictions are in place.<\/p>\n
Some environmental advocacy groups, such as Western Resource Advocates, are pushing for reclamation so that when upstream reservoirs need to be released, they are released over time to mimic natural conditions to benefit native, endangered fish, and other aquatic species. <\/p>\n
The Green River below Flaming Valley is home to endangered fish species that could benefit if drought-response releases mimic the natural surge of water during spring runoff.<\/p>\n
“The water is going to Powell regardless, so let’s do it in a way that actually provides some benefit in the process,” said John Berggren, regional policy manager for WRA’s Healthy Rivers division.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nIn a joint statement earlier this month, the governors of four upstream states – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – said their states were actively cutting off water users such as farmers and ranchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an unprecedented year for the Colorado River, perhaps the worst on record,\u201d the governors of four upstream states, including Colorado, said in a news release this month. \u201cDry years like this one remind us why it is important that everyone who depends on this resource learns to live within their means and adapt our use accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nIn early April, governors expressed support for releasing water from Flaming Gorge and other upstream reservoirs, as long as the releases comply with existing agreements and the reservoirs ultimately recover water lost through drought releases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a clear understanding of how these proposed releases will effectively protect the elevations of Lake Powell,\u201d the governors said. \u201cOnce the release is complete, we expect all water released from Flaming Gorge and other upstream reservoirs to be fully recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reclamation said this year’s water crisis is in a transitional phase. The existing agreement that has guided Colorado River reservoir operations for 20 years is set to expire this year. <\/p>\n
The bureau said the seven basin states have not reached an agreement on a new operating framework. <\/p>\n
Absent the agreement, Reclamation said the Department of the Interior, which oversees the agency, “stands ready to decide on operations beyond 2026 later this summer to bring certainty and stability to the Colorado River Basin.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\n\n <\/p>\nArticle type: News<\/h4>\n Based on facts directly observed and verified by reporters or reported and verified by knowledgeable sources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\t<\/div>\n
#Fed #reduce #water #release #Lake #Powell #due #Colorado #River #drought<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the face of a historically dry year and worsening conditions in the Colorado River Basin, federal and state officials are proposing severe drought response measures, including drastically reducing water releases from Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation announced Friday that it will likely cut Lake Powell water releases to 6 million acre-feet, the lowest … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[940,1300,1079,1478,1603,1543,923,1604,1602,352,354,941,617],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-river","tag-drought","tag-due","tag-fed","tag-lake","tag-lake-powell","tag-powell","tag-reclamation-bureau","tag-reduce","tag-release","tag-river","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyokal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}