This is when were supposed to be gaining and accumulating water in the form of snowpack, and thats not happening, Selover said. A drought that has gripped the Southwest is creeping the nation's two largest reservoirs toward a dead pool, which would have catastrophic consequences for water users in the Colorado River's lower basin. Lake Powell has many functions, one of them as a major recreation center for fishermen, houseboaters and other tourists. The southwestern states have been gripped by drought for over 22 years, experts say. Weve seen records set when it comes to dwindling soil moisture. And you know, thats way beyond any sort of voluntary conservation that Arizona has done up until this point. For those talks to start in the middle of another record-breaking dry period should make it clear to everyone involved: the future of the Colorado River is all about learning to live with less. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. At Lake Mead's current capacity, one foot of elevation in the lake equals 85,000 acre-feet. what little rain and snow has fallen dries . This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. 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 second largest reservoir in the U.S. by total capacity after Lake Mead, Lake Powell spans the Utah/Arizona border, and is an artificial lake created from damming the Colorado River. Record-breaking high temperatures dragged well into fall. Every year, it stores water that flows downstream from the four Upper Basin states. The challenges are really hard, Fleck said. This cookie is used to detect and defend when a client attempt to replay a cookie.This cookie manages the interaction with online bots and takes the appropriate actions. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It stores water as part of the Colorado River Compact and produceselectricity through the hydroelectric turbines in Glen Canyon dam. Give us an idea, if you would, just how low the supply is in the basins reservoirs right now. The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering a plan to keep extra water in Lake Powell. Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River, Arizona. 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This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. And what does that mean for the users on the river? An official shortage declaration from the federal government could come as early as this year, as Lake Mead is currently projected to be below 1,075 feet in elevation at the end of 2021. Hes a reporter at KUNC, based in Fort Collins, Colorado. But Lake Powell's current water level is the lowest since it was first filled almost 60 years ago. Down the Colorado River lies Lake Mead, which is also seeing lower water levels than ever before. And you know, those are cutbacks that users are actually going to feel and that municipal leaders, farmers, tribal users in Arizona are having to plan for right now. Credit: Alex Hager. The regions been looking warily at the reservoirs along this long river that winds its way from Colorados Rocky Mountains all the way to Mexico, just shy of the Gulf of California. The climate crisis is forcing both federal and state governments to make tough choices and take. The river also crosses over the US-Mexico border and two Mexican states, Baja California and Sonora. ET: The dead pool level of Lake Powell has been corrected. 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. The increase in temperatures means the atmosphere is thirstier. Secondly, Phoenix does not get it's water from Lake Powell. "The West might look different," said Hasencamp. The Lower Basin states have already agreed on two short-term programs to reduce their take of water from Mead. LUKE RUNYON: Well, Arizona is in the line for the steepest cuts from the Colorado River. Theyre already low, because the entire watershed has been experiencing above-average temperatures and below-average river flows since the year 2000. works with the radio team to create our weekly show, and is helping to build our State of Science Reporting Network. Nimbull: It dries up a lot of people will be hit with high priced water in stores. And it takes several years of good weather in order to bring the system out of drought. Its lagging in both the Upper and Lower basins, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects much of the watershed totilt toward hotter and drier weatherfor the rest of the winter. Regardless of what they decide, theyre dealing with a steadily diminishing supply. 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 cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". That deficit is about the same amount of precipitation that falls across Utah in an entire year. 2002, 2018 and 2021 are the most intense dry periods on record for the basin. As water levels fall in the reservoirs and river, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has implemented a tiered shortage system to reduce the allocated amount certain regions in the lower basin receive from the river to preserve water. . The study was financed by the district, which is based in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, along with the Southwestern Water Conservation District in Durango, and four water groups in Western Colorado that represent various interests. Climate change is driving more than two decades of drought across the region, and making it increasingly unlikely that Lake Powell will ever climb back to previous levels. This Statista chart shows the share of the continental United States' area under different levels of drought between 2018 and 2022. Welcome back to Science Friday, Luke. The loss of generation from the lake would deprive the grid of about a quarter million households worth of power. Levels on Lake Powell, which stores water for the. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, for water. They don't have it under control. Asthe latest round of federal forecastsfor the rivers flow shows, its plausible, maybe even likely, that the situation could get much worse this year. The Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam forms Lake Mead. And this is just the beginning of what could happen if the lake keeps drying up. But if the regions dry period repeats itself, he said, youll need fundamental change. His uncle, Stewart Udall, voted to create Lake Powell as an Arizona congressman in 1956 and shepherded construction of the Glen Canyon Dam that holds back the lake while he was interior secretary in the early 1960s. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better experience for the visitors. Even if nothing is done, he believes the risk quite low. The Santa Cruz River is now a giant bed of dust and sand. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. And so when you have snow thats melting off, it gets soaked up into the ground before it flows into a river or flows into a reservoir. So when Lake Mead declines, certain policy triggers are put in place. LinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection. 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. The Department of the Interior had asked the seven states of the Colorado River Compact to come up with a plan to cut between 2 and 4 million acre-feet of water by January. In the year 2000, the two reservoirs were 95% full. Azure sets this cookie for routing production traffic by specifying the production slot. The answer is almost certainly, no, we're not at the bottom of impacts, said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. In the long term, probably not. "Arizona is, to a greater or lesser degree, selling water to California," CAP attorney said of the later-killed deal. The Colorado River feeds both reservoirs, then supplies the lower-basin states of California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico with water. House Democrat nods to Kellyanne Conway in push to make Hatch Act violations a Hemorrhaging losses, the Feds problems are now the taxpayers, Lukashenko arrives in Beijing as concerns rise around China-Russia relations. This is the highest percentage of land in the rivers Upper Basin since 2002, which stands as the regions driest year on record. 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. That year is the deadline for water users to negotiate a new set of managing guidelines for the Colorado River. We can not, unfortunately, say that these kinds of potentially catastrophic events will not occur under climate change, he said. Northern Arizonas Glen Canyon Dam, which creates the lake, has a full capacity of 1,320 megawatts, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. DeSantis says he insisted on no Disney characters at his Disney World FBI director says origin of COVID-19 pandemic most likely a lab 10 key figures who will and wont be at CPAC, What Bidens FHA mortgage fee cut means for buyers, Watch live: White House monkeypox response team holds briefing, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. And as we warm even further, it makes it that much harder for our infrastructure, our water storage, to recover. Its also in the groundwater, something that you cant see. Okay. The government predicts that Lake Mead's water level will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) by June, the level . The low levels arent just causing hand-wringing among the Wests water officials. The nation's second-largest reservoir is strained by more than two decades of drought, and its water levels are slipping dangerously low. 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