Its also headed toward a record low later this year. Colorado River tribes pose statewide leasing idea, Risks to Lake Mead, Colorado River intensifying greatly, federal officials say, Arizona basketball | Tommy Lloyd on the wild, fun nature of college hoops | Feb. 28, 2023, Millions at Risk of Slipping Into Poverty as COVID-Era SNAP Benefits Set to End, More than 300 words have been added to the English dictionary. At that point, Upper Basin states would start delivering water from their other reservoirs to Powell. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Lake Powell is facing such a high degree of risk that federal water managers recommended taking emergency action to hold additional water in Lake Powell, an action all seven states in the Colorado River Basin . During those 25 years, the rivers annual flow averaged 13.2 million acre feet a bit less than what the Bureau of Reclamations studies have predicted it would carry by 2050 thanks to warming weather and other climate changes, Ostler noted. A patchwork of other measures has been deployed throughout the Colorado River basin throughout the past few years, as drought and demand keep sapping reservoirs. Work on the dam that created Lake Powell began in 1956 and was finished in 1966. For the Upper Basin states, the reservoir storage has ensured theyll be able to meet their legal requirement under the 1922 Colorado River Compact to deliver 75 million acre feet to the Lower Basin every 10 years. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. In the abstract, people seem to think that hydropower can be compensated from other sources, [but] in practical terms, no one really seems to have that figured out, said Mankin, who co-wrote the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Drought Task Forces annual report in 2021. SiteLock sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services. Falling water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell have been concerning for several years. This segment is part of the The State Of Science spotlight. Two Mexican states also receive Colorado River water. JOHN DANKOSKY: So its not just the reservoirs, though, where you see these dramatic pictures of just how low the water is. On the contrary, he said, its actually become this locus of huge uncertainty, which doesnt allow downstream users to make effective plans, because they dont know what their allocations are going to be. "The federal government generally prefers to let the stakeholders work things through, Sorensen said. ET: The dead pool level of Lake Powell has been corrected. It wascreated by blocking the Colorado River atGlen Canyon in southern Utah and northernArizona. They are trying to negotiate a three-state deal that would reduce water deliveries even further, he said. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". That leaves a sizable deficit and little time to turn things around. And thats really what were watching right now, is how low is Lake Mead going to go? This is very unpredictable and these are going to be difficult conversations in the coming years., THE HILL 1625 K STREET, NW SUITE 900 WASHINGTON DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 TEL | 202-628-8503 FAX. Thats about the amount of water that our soils are behind in terms of what they normally would have, Meyer said. If Lake Powell recedes much further, one of the nations largest reservoirs could be at risk of no longer generating hydropower for the region. LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. The Hoover Dam is therefore also at risk of declining hydroelectric power generation as Lake Mead approaches deadpool levels. But the last time it was anywhere close to that level was 1999. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Because of that, its expected that the Department of the Interior'sBureau of Reclamation, which oversees water management, will mandate onesometime next year. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage. This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC with financial support from the Walton Family Foundation. Newsweek reached out to the Central Arizona Project for comment. Stretching for 186 miles along the border of Utah and Arizona, Lake Powell serves as one of two major reservoirs that anchor the Colorado River. If the drought and excessive water use continues, Lake Mead could reach dead pool in the next two years and Lake Powell could soon follow. 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. In addition to the power the lake generates directly, it is a major source of grid resilience when full, serving as a quick backup source in cases where solar or wind power cant meet demand. Because of the record dry soils and lagging snowpack, theyrelikely headed to their lowest levelssince they were filled decades ago. Such is the nature of the climate change beast that we have unleashed.. A drastic drought could bring shortages of one to 1.5 million acre feet, he said. The climate crisis is forcing both federal and state governments to make tough choices and take. Both reservoirs have troublingly low water levels at 1,054.79 and 3,524.22 feet above sea level, respectively. Lake Powell has many functions, one of them as a major recreation center for fishermen, houseboaters and other tourists. He covers the Colorado River basin. If Lake Powell recedes much further, one of the nation's largest reservoirs could be at risk of no longer generating hydropower for the region. Correction 01/16/23 10:56 a.m. Many of the. Those are Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah. It survives, she said. "We can make up energy through fossil fuels, but if we fall short on water, we have to restrict supply because there are little to no replacements," he said. Lake Powell (credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) The power pool mark is 3,490 feet of elevation. 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. Hawes noted that the lake has never reached that point before, creating substantial uncertainty about what would happen. . Credit: Alex Hager. The reservoir is integrating all the problems we have, all the challenges we face show up in that one number, in that one place, he said. Stock image of Alstrom Point, Lake Powell. In the short term, yes. ", States that use Colorado River Basin water mandated to cut use. 84% Of Upper Basin In Extreme To Exceptional Drought This is the highest percentage of land in the river's Upper Basin since 2002, which stands as the region's driest year on record. The latest projections from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show there's a. How they disrupt our daily life, fuel disasters. Experts say it wont be a silver bullet, but could stave off near-term danger. Science Friday transcripts are produced on a tight deadline by 3Play Media. Glen Canyon Dam in Lake Powell near Page, Arizona on July 4, 2010. What is the long-term future of Lake Powell? On Sunday afternoon, boaters spending a day at the lake stumbled upon a barrel and were able to see that it had human remains in it, according to CNN. According to the National Park Service, contaminants from the newly exposed shorelines are reentering warm, shallow areas and becoming more concentrated. And this is just the beginning of what. And its split into two watersheds. This drought will only be exacerbated by climate change, as the increased global temperatures are expected to increase the severity of drought weather and frequencies of wildfires, as well as influencing a vast range of other extreme weather events. Alex is KUNC's reporter covering the Colorado River Basin. Because the deficit is so substantial, Meyer said its very likely the watershed will see drought conditions persist in 2021. John Dankosky works with the radio team to create our weekly show, and is helping to build our State of Science Reporting Network. Together, these reservoirs, fed by the mighty Colorado River, provide the water 40million Americans depend on. The Colorado isn't running low on information about water supplies. This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. For terms of use and more information, visit our policies pages athttp://www.sciencefriday.com/about/policies/. "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. You would have to go back to April of 1937, also twoyears into its initial filling, to find levels that low. Lake Powell has been called Jewel of the Colorado by the federal agency that built it, the Bureau of Reclamation. VigLink sets this cookie to show users relevant advertisements and also limit the number of adverts that are shown to them. "That has brought everything to a head much earlier than people thought it would.". Thank you for helping us continue making science fun for everyone. More than four scientific studieshave pinned a large part of the decline on human climate change. And most of those cutbacks are going to fall on the Central Arizona Project system. And what does that mean for the users on the river? However, he said the biggest impact will be the water. 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. The fact that they're becoming involved in this manner points to real concerns that they must have and they must view the situation as one of extreme difficulty that requires them to act more directly. The dam's evil has had no more prolific publicist than the writer Edward Abbey, whose Monkey Wrench Gang aspired ultimately to bring down the dam. Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that 3,490 feet is Lake Powell's "dead pool" level. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. And this is just the beginning of what could happen if the lake keeps drying up. Skip Navigation. Is this as bad as climate change is going to get in shrinking the snowpacks in the headwaters? Officials have already taken some stopgap measures to avert the lake getting down to the pivotal 3,490-foot mark. In March, the reservoir passed an important threshold. It also helps in fraud preventions. Joining me to shed a little bit more light on this is Luke Runyon. The water levels in Lake Powell are dramatically lower than they were in 2021, which in turn were lower than they were in 2020. Kathleen Davis is a producer at Science Friday, which means she spends the week brainstorming, researching, and writing, typically in that order. I havent shown the climate change hydrology because it just scares everybody, Kuhn told his districts governing board in June, according to an account of the meeting published in the Aspen Daily News. BACKGROUND: Western water crisis looms as California complicates critical water deal. Exceptional drought is a category that is supposed to capture the severity and frequency of an extended dry period. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, or the amount of water that will flood an acre of land to a depth of one foot. I would say less than 20 percent, Ostler said. Copyright 2021 Science Friday Initiative. We are likely witnessing the end of Lake Powell as we knew it in the 80s and 90s, Balken said. Lake Powell has been called "Jewel of the Colorado" by the federal agency that built it, the Bureau of Reclamation. The Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam forms Lake Mead. Federal and state officials have committed to a more inclusive process that integrates the needs of tribes, environmental and recreation groups, and Mexico. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage. Because of that, the spring and early summer will bring a temporary boost to water levels while snow runs into rivers and eventually flows into Lake Powell. The finding is ominous for the region's future drinking-water supply. "This is apparently a decent (water) year, but still, if it turns dry again there are some pretty big reductions on tap and every state could be affected," saidHasencamp. So Luke, I dont know is this all just because of climate change? 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