Federal water managers are soon expected to announce a round of water releases that would prop up Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir. Water levels there are near record lows, and they are expected to plummet even lower after a historically dry winter.
The Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which manages dams and reservoirs around the West, is trying to protect Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona. If water levels there drop much lower, it could become impossible for the dam to generate hydropower. Farther drops could make it impossible to pass water into the Colorado River on the other side.
Reclamation has indicated that it will explore a release of up to 1 million acre-feet of water from reservoirs in the Rocky Mountains and send it downstream to Lake Powell. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to fill one acre of land to a height of one foot. One acre-foot generally provides enough water for one to two households for a year.
Reclamation may also reduce the amount of water that is sent out of Lake Powell, through the Grand Canyon, and into Lake Mead.
The federal plan is possible under an existing agreement. A similar release plan was also rolled out in 2022 after a particularly dry winter. Water releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, located in the northeast corner of Utah and the southwest corner of Wyoming, ran into 2023 and were paused early after a spell of wet weather.
States in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — said they want clear communication from Reclamation about the size of releases and plans to replace the water.
“Once the releases conclude, we expect that all water released from Flaming Gorge and other upstream reservoirs will be fully recovered,” governors from the Upper Basin states wrote in a joint statement. “Further, any releases must be appropriately sized. Years like this one remind us that appropriate water storage helps us survive the dry years, and that we must be prepared not only for this year but future dry years, as well as average years.”
The governors cited water use restrictions around their home states during these dry times.
“These cuts are mandatory, uncompensated, and will have significant impacts on water users,” they wrote. “Including Upper Basin Tribes, and local economies.”
Arizona’s top water official said the Upper Basin has not done enough to protect Lake Powell. Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, cited cuts that his state — along with Nevada and California — made as part of an effort to leave water in Lake Mead, which stores water for lower Basin cities, tribes and farms.
He said reduced releases from Powell are possible because of the additional water in Mead.
“We in the Lower Basin were proactive, reduced our water use, propped up the elevation of Lake Mead,” Buschatzke told KJZZ. “That's allowing this federal plan to go forward. I will challenge you, challenge the Upper Basin to show us what they've done to prop up the elevation of Lake Powell.”
The back-and-forth over the pending federal release plan is set against the backdrop of contentious negotiations between the seven states that use the Colorado River. State leaders are under pressure to forge a new deal for sharing water, but they have dug in their heels and blown past deadlines for an agreement, all while water levels in major reservoirs drop further.
Lower Basin states — Arizona, California, and Nevada — have agreed to some mandatory cutbacks, but their counterparts in the Upper Basin — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — have not.
While releases from Flaming Gorge and other upstream reservoirs could help protect water levels at Lake Powell, Buschatzke said the short-term fix won’t affect negotiations.
“The fact that this is occurring isn't going to help us, in any way, shape or form, get to a seven state agreement,” he said.
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