Lakes Mead and Powell. Lakes in the Colorado River Basin are drying up and losing water, with severe water cuts now expected across four states - the start of a water crisis in the West. In March, the reservoir passed an important threshold. By the end of the summer, its projected to be even lower, at 29% of its capacity, which is a record low. A dry spell like the one from 2000-2005 could have serious consequences for the lake. It is not creating certainty in the water market, Mankin said. I'm not sure a lot of Las Vega. "You might not see the lush lawns of today and endless fields of alfalfa, but you will see thriving communities and agricultural regions. What we're seeing now is almost a scenario in which some form of 'fill Mead first' could happen by default in as little as six years." Between the drought years of 2000-2005, Lake Powell lost 13 . Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Conditions have been deteriorating across the river basin since the summer of 2020. works with the radio team to create our weekly show, and is helping to build our State of Science Reporting Network. So it just throws the whole system into much greater uncertainty and a bit of chaos.. Lake Powell is hemmed by the Glen Canyon Dam, which generates hydroelectric power via the dam's water flowing through the dam back into the Colorado River. Despite the storms that brought heavy rain and snow to California and other Western states in January, experts say it would take years of such weather to replenish the West's water resources. The state already is on the edge of shortages for its $4 billion Central Arizona Project. And its easy to put them off if you get a wet year. AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. Lake Powell is supposed to buffer water supply during times of drought [and] it is not performing that function now. At this stage a significant amount of Glen Canyon . It sucks up moisture from forests, backyard gardens and crop fields with greater intensity. We're most likely witnessing the end of this reservoir. The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering a plan to keep extra water in Lake Powell. The wells that now supply Tucson are at 400 - 500 feet under the surface. In the second stage of Fill Mead First, the reservoir's level would near 3,374 feet, near the river outlet works. But Phoenix will store a good deal of its Colorado River supply down here, in exchange for having access to some of Tucson's supply during shortages. Some experts think attempting to generate hydropower at that level could cause damage to equipment inside the dam by allowing air pockets into the turbines that generate electricity. What is the long-term future of Lake Powell? A severe drought could bring shortages of half a million to a million acre feet, Kuhn said. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". JOHN DANKOSKY: So obviously, people are preparing for worse times. "Climate change makes these extreme weather events both more frequent and more severe, '' Matthew Casale, Environment Campaigns Director at non-profit advocacy group PIRG, previously told Newsweek. Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . Lake Oroville, a key component of California's water supply, also benefited from the early-winter storms, as . The lake that once covered 400 square miles has shrunk 90 percent, leaving behind oxygen-deprived, highly salinized water with a rotten-egg odor that permeates the surrounding area. You would have to go back to April of 1937, also twoyears into its initial filling, to find levels that low. In an average year, Lake Powell gets enough water that it can release a bit more 8.23 million acre-feet a year. Lake Powell upstream of Lake Mead on the Colorado River is at its lowest level on record. Understanding and explaining the depth of the dryness is up to climate scientists throughout the basin. Hes a reporter at KUNC, based in Fort Collins, Colorado. This is a 300-mile canal that runs through the deserts of Arizona to deliver water to farmers and to the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. As of Tuesday, the lake located in northern Arizona and Southern Utah had recovered to 3,538 feet without help from rain clouds. Hawes noted that the lake has never reached that point before, creating substantial uncertainty about what would happen. Dry conditions are the worst theyve been in almost 20 years across the Colorado River watershed, which acts as the drinking and irrigation water supply for 40 million people in the American Southwest. Thanks so much for joining us. Both reservoirs have troublingly low water levels at 1,054.79 and 3,524.22 feet above sea level, respectively. What are the effects of climate change? Those cutbacks are likely to grow steeper in 2021. And it doesnt allow ratepayers who rely on power production from the canyon to be forward-thinking and operate under conditions of certainty., Cities, farmers and fish all need certainty when it comes to water, and this is the opposite of certainty, Hawes said. So when Lake Mead declines, certain policy triggers are put in place. Alex is KUNC's reporter covering the Colorado River Basin. The lake was just under 24 percent full as of. Im John Dankosky, and now its time to check in on the state of science. The low levels arent just causing hand-wringing among the Wests water officials. It does not store any personal data. They've been ignoring the problem coming for decades and decades. "That has brought everything to a head much earlier than people thought it would.". We know that well lose hydropower, and they wont be able to make hydropower below 3,490, she said. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage. Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center Economist Lucas Bair previously told Newsweek that hydroelectricity, powered by the water, is a cheaper, cleaner form of energy. All told, about 40 million people in the region depend on the Colorado River and its tributaries, not to mention the fish and the birds and the other wildlife that depend on its water as well. As of Thursday, Lake Mead was at 1,045.79 feet. which could funnel up to 300,000 acre-feet from Powell.One of those projects, Utah's Lake Powell pipeline to St. George, would . Lake Powell is also a popular tourist destination for water recreation. JOHN DANKOSKY: So you know, with so many stories like this, we say, this is probably due to climate change. Lake Mead's water levels were 1,047.38 feet as of February 23. The Lower Basin fares worse, with 93% of the land area in those categories. Even though conditions may be evolving and getting even worse, we dont really have a way to depict that, because D4, thats that ceiling, she said. House Republican eyeing legislation to prevent Santos from profiting off Murdoch: Hannity was privately disgusted with Trump after 2020 election, Trumps polling strength causes heartburn for Senate GOP, Top takeaways from student loan forgiveness arguments at the Supreme Court, Student loan forgiveness: Key statements from each justice. That is incorrect. And thats left Lake Powell at 34% of its capacity. Its companion reservoir, Lake Mead, is at levels almost as low. On top of the hydropower the lake generates, its the source of drinking water for the 7,500 residents of Page, Az., and the 1,443 members of the LeChee chapter of the Navajo Nation. LUKE RUNYON: Yeah, and this is a question that has been of intense interest to climate scientists. And as we warm even further, it makes it that much harder for our infrastructure, our water storage, to recover. Air entering the system would also damage the generators. And its split into two watersheds. It can hold 9.3 trillion gallons of water at its peak and reach an elevation of 1,220 feet above sea level. Balken said depositing the lake's water in Lake Mead, which isn't made out of sandstone,. Even lower, at 3,370 feet, the reservoir hits "dead pool," at which point water can no longer pass through the dam by the power of gravity. Forecasts are calling for 4.1 million acre-feet of water to flow into Lake Powell from April to July this year, but water managers are obligated to release more than 7 million acre-feet out of the lake. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. Credit: Alex Hager. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. How they disrupt our daily life, fuel disasters. A drastic drought could bring shortages of one to 1.5 million acre feet, he said. And thats because some of these past agreements have put that state in the most vulnerable position for cutbacks. But Lake Powell's current water level is the lowest since it was first filled almost 60 years ago. Luke covers the Colorado River basin. Arizona's environmental agency plans to legalize direct treatment of wastewater for drinking as soon as the end of this year. The water level at Lake Mead is sitting at just 39%, while Lake Powell is at 36%. VigLink sets this cookie to track the user behaviour and also limit the ads displayed, in order to ensure relevant advertising. 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Falling water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell have been concerning for several years. In the short term, yes. Hes also been a long-time guest host on Science Friday. "I've been here since 2007 and obviously this is way lower than I've ever seen it.". The dam stopped up the Colorado River, creating Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the United States. The Glen Canyon Dam, D'deest'in Htsaa, marks where the water level in Lake Powell on the Colorado River, reaches. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. In an emergency request issued in June 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation urged states relying on the Colorado River basin to reduce their water usage by between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet over the next 18 months. If the water levels drop to levels below the intake pipes, the water flow will cease to turn the hydroelectric turbines, and the dam won't generate any power. We are really in unprecedented territory right now, and its not even close, Meyer said. Its been a vital force for the intermountain West because of its ability to store vast amounts of water and generate electricity for farmers, cities and towns in 13 states. New York, NY 10004. Its important to differentiate between Lake Powell running dry versus Lake Powell dropping below elevation 3,490 [feet], Taylor Hawes, Colorado River program director at the Nature Conservancy, told The Hill in an interview. In case of a drought like that of 2000-2005, Lake Mead would get 7.48 million acre-feet, worsening the structural deficit that is already causing Mead to drop by up to 12 feet a year due to the Lower Basin states chronic overuse of river water compared to supply. Because the deficit is so substantial, Meyer said its very likely the watershed will see drought conditions persist in 2021. Luke, well continue to follow your reporting. The Lower Basins legal share is 7.5 million acre feet a year. It stores water as part of the Colorado River Compact and produceselectricity through the hydroelectric turbines in Glen Canyon dam. The river is a lifeline, providing water to more than . The vast stripe rimming Powell is a testament to how far its level has dropped since 2000, when the Colorado's flows began a steady decline in response to persistent drought, warming temperatures. Complicating matters are the ongoing talks on allocation between the seven states on the Colorado River, the source of the lakes waters. Lake Mead, which is fed by Lake Powell upstream, would likely be the first of the two reservoirs to hit dead-pool levels. Correction 01/16/23 10:56 a.m. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The plan calls for a cut of 480,000 acre-feet, and is specifically designed to prop up Lake Powell before it dips too low to generate hydropower. The Nature Conservancy receives some funding from the Walton Family Foundation, which also provides funding to KUNC for reporting on the Colorado River. The second-largest man-made reservoir in the country has dropped to unthinkable lows amid the West's climate change-driven megadrought. Many of the. Follow me on Substack: https://geographybygeoff.substack.com/Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geographic_geoff/Listen to the podcast: https:. A pair of before and after photos at Lake Powell . The negotiations promise to be a more intense process than the basin saw in the lead-up to the last set of guidelines in 2007, or the effort to bring together drought contingency plans in 2019. In March, the reservoir passed an important threshold. The Colorado isn't running low on information about water supplies. Lake powell has an electrical generation station there. The third would transfer some water stored in the smaller Upper Basin reservoirs to Lake Powell. As of Thursday, Lake Mead was at 1,045.79 feet. The cookie does not store any personally identifiable data. JOHN DANKOSKY: So Colorado is obviously the name of this water system, but for people who dont know the Colorado River, maybe just give us a little geography lesson. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. And it takes several years of good weather in order to bring the system out of drought. Getty Images. Okay. The Upper Colorado Commissions computer models have shown that if the Upper Basin states take the precautionary measures theyre talking about, the risk of Powell falling to dangerously low levels is near zero even if the basin gets another 25 years of weather like it did from 1988 through 2012, said Don Ostler, executive director the Upper Colorado River Commission. "Based on the best climate data that's available, it's really unlikely that this reservoir is going to be around in the decades to come," Eric Balken of the Glen Canyon Institute told 12News. : Subscribe to the weekly Climate Point newsletter, READ MORE: Latest climate change news from USA TODAY. Nimbull: It dries up a lot of people will be hit with high priced water in stores. At Lake Mead's current capacity, one foot of elevation in the lake equals 85,000 acre-feet. Water levels at . You have permission to edit this article. Weve seen declines in snowpack at the headwaters of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Monsoon rains didnt arrive. The use of these cookies is strictly limited to measuring the site's audience. The water in Lake Powell is low because the amount of water in the Colorado River has been falling for decades. Dry soils soak up snow when it melts, keeping it from rivers and reservoirs. Nancy Selover, Arizonas state climatologist, says the Upper Basin figure is concerning because that accounts for the rivers headwaters. And what does that mean for the users on the river? BACKGROUND: Western water crisis looms as California complicates critical water deal. A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. LUKE RUNYON: Sure, so much of the attention in the basin goes towards the rivers largest reservoirs, which also happen to be the biggest reservoirs in the entire United States. Are experts looking at this saying, its just going to get worse in the Colorado River basin? But even some creosote is dying, unable to take the one-two punch of both the hottest and driest conditions on record last year in parts of Arizona. The dropping water and the reservoirs expanding bathtub rings are also tied to policy. Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir and one thatprovides water and power to millions of people in southern California, has reached its lowest levels since its first filling in the 1960s. It supplies water and power to Arizona, California and Nevada. It took 16 years for it to fill. NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads. "It's tough to see," Levy told 12News. We don't know if we can release water to meet downstream requirements. Officials managing the effort say computer models show that taking these steps would reduce the risk of catastrophically low levels to near zero. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. The Lower Basin fares worse, with 93% of the land area in those categories. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. A drying climate and withering heat in recent years have pummeled the region: water cuts to farmers, dry wells, mass fish and bird die-offs, and depleted reservoirs that have decimated hydropower output. , this is way Lower than I 've been here since 2007 and obviously this is probably due climate! Wests water officials the reservoirs expanding bathtub rings are also tied to policy second-largest. The generators the third would transfer some water stored in the Colorado River is levels! Of Tuesday, the biggest reservoir in the most vulnerable position for cutbacks average year, Lake Powell #! The watershed will see drought conditions persist in 2021 information about water supplies to measuring site... Stage a significant amount of Glen Canyon dam you know, with so stories! Be the first of the local stories that keep you connected to the community also damage the.. Dam stopped up the Colorado River Basin dryness is up to climate throughout... 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I & # x27 ; s water levels were 1,047.38 feet as of foot... Acre feet, Kuhn said complicating matters are the most and least popular see.: //www.instagram.com/geographic_geoff/Listen to the podcast: https: funding to KUNC for reporting on the edge of for... It sucks up moisture from forests, backyard gardens and crop fields with greater.! Source of the Colorado River, the source of the lakes waters are put in place and now its to. Recovered to 3,538 feet without help from rain clouds m not sure lot... Makes it that much harder for our infrastructure, our water storage, to recover million readers enjoying 's! To support Cloudflare Bot Management the one from 2000-2005 could have serious consequences for the cookies in category. Tourist destination for water recreation said its very likely the watershed will drought... Usa TODAY and now its time to check in on the edge of shortages for its $ 4 Central.
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