In the long term, probably not. The water level decline . Water managers across the region are on the clock to come up with new rules for how to share Colorado River water before 2026, when the current guidelines expire. The idea that these smaller upstream reservoirs can continue to compensate Powells losses, thats not the case, he said. "That means that due to climate change, it is more likely that we will see [more] extreme heat waves". You have permission to edit this article. 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. This is when were supposed to be gaining and accumulating water in the form of snowpack, and thats not happening, Selover said. At full capacity, Lake Powell holds enough water to flood the entire state of Kentucky a foot deep. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. 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. As of August 10, water levels were measured to be 3,534.51 feet above sea level. Those are Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah. And thats really what were watching right now, is how low is Lake Mead going to go? And those cutbacks are spelled out in agreements that the states and the federal government have put together in order to manage some of that decline. As part of 2019s Drought Contingency Plan, water managers agreed that the reservoirs water should be kept above 3,525 feet to provide a buffer before it got even lower, giving the agencies in charge some time to come up with a fix. Federal and state officials have committed to a more inclusive process that integrates the needs of tribes, environmental and recreation groups, and Mexico. Give us an idea, if you would, just how low the supply is in the basins reservoirs right now. Climatologist Jon Meyer with the Utah Climate Center said the number that captures the severity for him is 12 inches. Lakes Mead and Powell. 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. They don't have it under control. The ranking by American Rivers is the sixth time since 1991 that all or part of the Colorado topped its endangered list. Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir, is about 30% full and dropping, a water level not seen since the reservoir was first filled when the Glen Canyon Dam blocked up the Colorado . 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. So when Lake Mead declines, certain policy triggers are put in place. JOHN DANKOSKY: When you use the term megadrought, that sounds like a newer term. LinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID. I mean, what sort of disputes are coming to the forefront because of this? The finding is ominous for the region's future drinking-water supply. The emergency action would increase Lake Powell's level about 16 feet after an April record low of 2,522 feet. So Im guessing over the next several years, as policies are negotiated, youre going to hear a lot more about how tribes are being involved in that process. Experts say that the reservoir may dry up completely in a few decades. 1. One acre-foot generally provides enough water for one to two households for a year. The latest projections from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show there's a. And thats a word that youre hearing a lot more, is megadrought, not just this temporary state of drought. The historic megadrought that is squeezing some Western states water supplies will also likely start showing up in energy bills, because those dams cant produce as much electricity. Together, these reservoirs, fed by the mighty Colorado River, provide the water 40million Americans depend on. Officials managing the effort say computer models show that taking these steps would reduce the risk of catastrophically low levels to near zero. Lake Powell has many functions, one of them as a major recreation center for fishermen, houseboaters and other tourists. Those cutbacks are likely to grow steeper in 2021. And by themselves they are no longer sufficient to meet the area needs. The lake was just under 24 percent full as of. Much of the water from the river is used for irrigation and agricultural uses, but there are municipal users, as well. 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. Fidelity to the original aired/published audio or video file might vary, and text might be updated or amended in the future. "I've been here since 2007 and obviously this is way lower than I've ever seen it.". And its staring down the possibility of losing access to a third or more of its water in the next year. The lake was just under 24 percent full as of last week, and had lost 16 feet in the last year. 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. According to nonprofit news organization CalMatters, California, which receives the most water from the river at 4.4 million acre-feetmore than one-third of the river's supplyhas not yet been impacted by the cuts. 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. Today its about half full, Kuhn said. This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC with financial support from the Walton Family Foundation. Lake Mead is the nation's largest reservoir, a companion to Lake Powell. Lake Powell has been called Jewel of the Colorado by the federal agency that built it, the Bureau of Reclamation. The proposal, negotiated in secret for more than a year, would ship river water to Prescott and Williams on the north to Sierra Vista and Bens, Depending on what assumptions are made in its computer models, the risks of catastrophically low levels at Mead by 2026 have jumped three to s. Both reservoirs still need to drop several hundred feet before they are considered to be at dead-pool levels. The Colorado River feeds both reservoirs, then supplies the lower-basin states of California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico with water. The cookie does not store any personally identifiable data. Tony graduated from Northwestern University and started at the Star in 1997. And what does that mean for the users on the river? BACKGROUND: Western water crisis looms as California complicates critical water deal. Even if nothing is done, he believes the risk quite low. 2002, 2018 and 2021 are the most intense dry periods on record for the basin. According to the National Park Service, contaminants from the newly exposed shorelines are reentering warm, shallow areas and becoming more concentrated. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. I'm not sure a lot of Las Vega. Hes also been a long-time guest host on Science Friday. The Colorado River cuts through dry land that was once covered by Lake Powell on September 7, 2022, near Hite, Utah. But the warming temperatures that were seeing make it considerably worse than it would have been. Exceptional drought is a category that is supposed to capture the severity and frequency of an extended dry period. What are the effects of climate change? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. By January, the bureau projects water levels at Lake Mead to fall to 1,065.85 feet nine feet below the first shortage trigger elevation. 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. In an average year, Lake Powell gets enough water that it can release a bit more 8.23 million acre-feet a year. This story is part of ongoing coverage of water in the West, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. This summer, the water. Tanya Trujillo, the departments assistant secretary, sent a letter to the seven states in the Colorado River basin warning of cutbacks to the water supply for Nevada, Arizona and California. Two Mexican states also receive Colorado River water. We can not, unfortunately, say that these kinds of potentially catastrophic events will not occur under climate change, he said. If allocations from the Colorado River dip below the levels necessary for some customers to receive hydropower, the real question [becomes] what can our grid accommodate from a hydropower perspective in terms of compensating production losses from Glen Canyon? said Justin Mankin, an assistant professor of geography at Dartmouth College. That deficit could easily put us below power pool within a year, just as a back of the envelope calculation, said Eric Balken, executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute. This year, because things have been so dry some of the states in the Colorado River watershed have had the driest year on record over the last year, and thats left the soil incredibly parched. 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. In the short term, yes. For the authoritative record of Science Fridays programming, please visit the original aired/published recording. 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. What about the idea of a water shortage? The Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam forms Lake Mead. 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. Falling water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell have been concerning for several years. The lake avoided serious problems during the drought because, in 1999, it was almost full. 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. 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. YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. As Lake Mead outside Las Vegas and Lake Powell in Utah decline, certain policies are triggered into action. The Bureau's projections show a 3% chance that Lake Powell's water levels fall below the minimum level necessary for the lake's Glen Canyon Dam to generate hydroelectricity next year. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. Monsoon rains didnt arrive. All rights reserved. We don't know if we can release water to meet downstream requirements. This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. 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. What states, what tribal nations, does this cut through? At 3,370 feet, the reservoir hits. Are experts looking at this saying, its just going to get worse in the Colorado River basin? 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