The Colorado River often headlines the news with stories related to declining water levels, climate change, and megadrought.  Those levels have reached 1200-year historic lows, prompting American Rivers, a conservation group, to rank it as the most endangered river in the U.S.  The magnitude of the issue is playing out in the decreasing levels of the country’s two largest reservoirs supplied by the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell.  In August 2021, the shortages in Lake Mead prompted the government to reduce Southern Nevada’s allocation by 7 billion gallons beginning in January of this year.  Now Lake Powell’s levels are prompting further emergency action because not only is water at stake but also power generation for approximately five million people across seven states.

In March, for the first time Lake Powell dropped below 3525 feet, a previously designated critical threshold in drought contingency plans.  The lowest level Glen Canyon Dam can generate hydropower is 3,490 feet; the critical threshold allows 35 feet to plan for an emergency response.  On May 3, the United States Bureau of Reclamation announced a two-pronged approach to protect Lake Powell and hydropower generation as part of the 2022 Drought Response Operations Agreement (DROA).  First, more water will be released from upstream from Flaming Gorge Reservoir as specified by the Drought Contingency Plan of 2019.  Second, additional water will be held in Lake Powell instead of being released to flow to Lake Mead and the downstream states as outlined in the 2007 Interim Guidelines for operations of both Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams.[1]  These actions are expected to increase Lake Powell by approximately 1 million acre-feet of water and secure one year of operation while the federal government formulates a plan for the long term. 

As the water levels in Lake Powell decline so does the hydroelectric production which forces the region to account for the difference with fossil fuels which are more expensive and perpetuate continued global warming, further augmenting the water crisis.  Reduced water releases from Lake Powell downstream also mean further cuts to water supplies for Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming which have already been reduced by over 110 billion gallons this year.[2]  The actions taken by the bureau are deemed a maneuver for the short-term, not a long-term solution.  Climate change is forcing all to consider how to keep both water and power available to this region of the country.

[1] Bureau of Reclamation. “Reclamation’s Drought Response Actions Will Boost Lake Powell.” Bureau of Reclamation - News and Multimedia, 3 May 2022, www.usbr.gov/newsroom/#/news-release/4196.

[2] Marsh, René. “Lake Powell Officials Face an Impossible Choice in the West's Megadrought: Water or Electricity.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Apr. 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/04/30/us/west-drought-lake-powell-hydropower-or-water-climate/index.html.