It's been a vital force for the intermountain West because of its ability to. So water from the Colorado River is now pumped across the state of Arizona via the Central Arizona Project (CAP). If Lake Powell recedes much further, one of the nations largest reservoirs could be at risk of no longer generating hydropower for the region. One acre-foot generally provides enough water for one to two households for a year. Lake Powell is rapidly drying up as a result of the scorching megadrought in the Western U.S., and may completely disappear in just decades. Its depth level currently stands at around 3,530 feet. Thousands of Tucson homes use 250% more water than you. a study published in the journal Science said the current dry period in the Southwest is one for the record books, and that its "megadrought-like trajectory" is fueled by natural variability superimposed on . Back-to-back dry years years with below-average runoff have left little water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, a reservoir upstream. First of all Lake Powell is not gonna dry up. Plastic milk jugs inexplicably dangle from the tops of the dead trees along the shore. In those cases, what's revealed is the dry and dusty lake-bedwhich can be a problem in its own right. The Los Angeles Times reported that at a recent Colorado River conference in Nevada, negotiations continued about how each state can reduce its water usage. These reservoirs are as empty now as when they started filling Glen Canyon Dam in the 1960s, said John Fleck, director of the University of New Mexicos water resources program. 2020. More. 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. 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. The water levels behind the Colorado Rivers biggest dams are fast-approaching or already at record lows. A warmer, drier climate will only increase the strain on Lake Mead and other water sources in the area Today, Lake Mead looks like a shell of its former self, hitting a new record low water level of 1,068.08 feet above sea level, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. "Its unfortunate that thelargely natural occurrence of a drought has coincided with this increasing warming due to greenhouse gases," said Flavio Lehner, aprofessor of atmospheric sciences at Cornell University. This is prompting a lot of people to ask whats going to happen next. The second-largest man-made reservoir in the country has dropped to unthinkable lows amid the West's climate change-driven megadrought. Its companion reservoir, Lake Mead, is at levels almost as low. These cookies help provide anonymized information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. In this column provided by Writers on the Range . As a key ingredient in everything from asphalt to microchips, scientists are trying to make sand extraction more ecologically friendly. Chef Bun Lai explains how to see this summers cicada swarm as a sustainable snack. And by themselves they are no longer sufficient to meet the area needs. The wells that now supply Tucson are at 400 - 500 feet under the surface. Okay. Such is the nature of the climate change beast that we have unleashed.. 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. 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 is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. And youre able to say, oh, the rivers high, or the river is low. 2002, 2018 and 2021 are the most intense dry periods on record for the basin. I would say less than 20 percent, Ostler said. If that does come to pass, Tyrell said he is fairly confident we can deal with worst case scenario if it ever happens.. But after more than two decades of drought it is now less than 1,050 feet the lowest since the lake was filled, and falling about a foot a week. In the short term, yes. Weve seen declines in snowpack at the headwaters of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Its also in the groundwater, something that you cant see. JOHN DANKOSKY: So you know, with so many stories like this, we say, this is probably due to climate change. LUKE RUNYON: Well, I dont have a crystal ball. The lake avoided serious problems during the drought because, in 1999, it was almost full. 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. Levels on Lake Powell, which stores water for the. Definitions explained. It is something in peer-reviewed, published science for decades and decades that the managers of the Colorado River have been ignoring.. Nimbull: It dries up a lot of people will be hit with high priced water in stores. And thats because some of these past agreements have put that state in the most vulnerable position for cutbacks. 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. Even if nothing is done, he believes the risk quite low. Air entering the system would also damage the generators. What does the forecast look like? The water in Lake Powell is low because the amount of water in the Colorado River has been falling for decades. Youre hearing a lot more now, especially because the interior secretary, Deb Haaland, is herself a member of a Native American tribe and has put a lot of emphasis on bringing tribes to the table, making tribal consultation a big part of the Biden administrations priorities. JOHN DANKOSKY: This is Science Friday. He says such measures can help, for sure. Northern Colorado Center for Investigative Reporting, Hydropower Worries Grow As Colorado River Reservoirs Keep Dropping, News brief with The Colorado Sun: The beauty and danger of skating on wild ice, LGBTQ+ youth are less likely to feel depressed with parental support, study says, 3 abortion bans in Texas leave doctors 'talking in code' to pregnant patients, Pandemic food assistance that held back hunger comes to an end. Lake Powell, the country's second-largest reservoir and a key source of water and power for much of the West, is more parched than ever.Earlier this month, the lake dropped below 25% capacity . Kathryn Sorensen, research director at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, said it will push water managers further in the direction of finding more permanent solutions. Those are Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah. At full pool, Powell's water line lies 3,700 feet above sea level, and at 3,370 feet, it will reach deadpool levels. 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. "I've been here since 2007 and obviously this is way lower than I've ever seen it.". The river basin is governed bya centuries-old agreement that allocates more water than flows through the river, and the federal Bureau of Reclamation has called on states to reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet. Lake Mead's level is 1,047 feet above sea level. This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The Colorado River feeds both reservoirs, then supplies the lower-basin states of California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico with water. What happens if Lake Powell runs out of water? 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. As of Thursday, Lake Mead was at 1,045.79 feet. This is the highest percentage of land in the rivers Upper Basin since 2002, which stands as the regions driest year on record. The story has been updated to reflect this information. They werent able to come up with an agreement. Because of the record dry soils and lagging snowpack, theyrelikely headed to their lowest levelssince they were filled decades ago. And what does that mean for the users on the river? Im John Dankosky, and now its time to check in on the state of science. So the upper watershed, you have the headwater states. It will be painful but it doesn't mean the area can't thrive. Applying data from three droughts from a 25-year period starting in 1988, it predicted that even with little new growth in that basin, a moderate drought would trigger shortages of 350,000 to 500,000 acre-feet. The future of the reservoir is largely uncertain, but climate science and recent actions by the government are providing some hints as to what might happen in the near future. The Southwest United States is wrapping up an abnormally dry winter. Whether the six-year cycle of 2000-05 repeats itself is anybodys guess, said Pat Tyrrell, Wyoming state engineer who has been involved in the Upper Basin water talks. A . Today, the lake has about 13 million acre-feet left, said Eric Kuhn, general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, which is helping to oversee the study. 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 . Future conservation efforts are highly uncertain. The lake was just under 24 percent full as of. Lake Mead's water level on Wednesday was measured at 1,044.03 feet, its lowest elevation since the lake was filled in the 1930s. 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. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage. It is forecast to have a new record low next summer, saidHasencamp. Lake Mead is the nation's largest reservoir, a companion to Lake Powell. Is climate change the same thing as global warming? In a wetter year, it will release 9 million acre feet to Mead. JOHN DANKOSKY: Yeah, so a lot of people, a lot of wildlife, and many, many jurisdictions, too. 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. The dam stopped up the Colorado River, creating Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the United States. 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. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. 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. Broadly speaking, dropping levels have created a lot of unanswered questions about the future. He and his wife have four cats, thousands of bees, and a yoga studio in the sleepy Northwest hills of Connecticut. AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. Scientists say the current status of Lake Mead is a stark illustration of climate change and a megadrought that could be the worst in the U.S. West in 1,200 years . Understanding and explaining the depth of the dryness is up to climate scientists throughout the basin. JOHN DANKOSKY: So obviously, people are preparing for worse times. Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River, Arizona. The year as I write is now 2018. You would have to go back to April of 1937, also twoyears into its initial filling, to find levels that low. Lake Powell is the town's lifeline. And thats really what were watching right now, is how low is Lake Mead going to go? Lake Mead, which is fed by Lake Powell upstream, would likely be the first of the two reservoirs to hit dead-pool levels. The Lower Basin states of Arizona and Nevada have begun to see their deliveries from the river curtailed. 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. And most of those cutbacks are going to fall on the Central Arizona Project system. Climate scientists call it D4. This cookie is native to PHP applications. Arizona, which receives 36 percent of its water supply from the river, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, has been hit hardest by the cuts. 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