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. And this is just the beginning of what could happen if the lake keeps drying up. Levels on Lake Powell, which stores water for the. She said the very fact that officials in Washington, D.C. are getting involved underscores the urgency of Lake Powells crisis. He has mostly covered environmental stories since 2005, focusing on water supplies, climate change, the Rosemont Mine and the endangered jaguar. 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. 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. LinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. "Climate change makes these extreme weather events both more frequent and more severe, '' Matthew Casale, Environment Campaigns Director at non-profit advocacy group PIRG, previously told Newsweek. Why is Lake Mead drying up? 3. And Lake Mead is currently at 37% capacity. 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. It is something in peer-reviewed, published science for decades and decades that the managers of the Colorado River have been ignoring.. 2020. Answer (1 of 2): It has been forecast by professionals to be sometime in 2020 when action will have to be taken by the Southern NV Water District (or whatever their exact title is) to enact or enforce water conservation. Keep reading with a digital access subscription. Since Lake Powell is primarily sandstone, the lake actually leaks water into the porous rocks. These cookies help provide anonymized information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Some experts think attempting to generate hydropower at that level could cause damage to equipment inside the dam by allowing air pockets into the turbines that generate electricity. Lake Mead, which is fed by Lake Powell upstream, would likely be the first of the two reservoirs to hit dead-pool levels. Some of Americas largest cities depend on the water from Lake Mead. As a key ingredient in everything from asphalt to microchips, scientists are trying to make sand extraction more ecologically friendly. Depending on how you define "dry up." It's doubtful that all 1,450 miles of the Colorado River will turn to dust, even if we drain Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation's two largest. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Dry soils soak up snow when it melts, keeping it from rivers and reservoirs. At its height, the lake surface sits over 1,200 feet (365 meters) above sea level. With the reservoirs approaching their lowest levels in modern history, that brings us to our final number: 2026. Both Utah and Nevada experienced their driest years on record in 2020. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Because of that, the spring and early summer will bring a temporary boost to water levels while snow runs into rivers and eventually flows into Lake Powell. The Colorado River systems reservoirs combined arecurrently less than half full. There is also 29 federally-recognized tribes in the basin, of which 10 of those tribes hold a significant amount of water rights from the river. And there is some evidence that this dry period would have happened without our greenhouse gas emissions. 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 loss of generation from the lake would deprive the grid of about a quarter million households worth of power. So Luke, I dont know is this all just because of climate change? 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. The idea that these smaller upstream reservoirs can continue to compensate Powells losses, thats not the case, he said. So when Lake Mead declines, certain policy triggers are put in place. But the warming temperatures that were seeing make it considerably worse than it would have been. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. In the second stage of Fill Mead First, the reservoir's level would near 3,374 feet, near the river outlet works. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. 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 . Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. All rights reserved. They are trying to negotiate a three-state deal that would reduce water deliveries even further, he said. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Big Water, Utah It's hard to believe a place as beautiful as Lake Powell is also a shadow of its former self. It took 16 years for it to fill. Its 90% of the water supply to Las Vegas, 50% to Phoenix, effectively 100% to Tucson and 25% to Los Angeles, said Udall. The district entered 2021 with a record 3.2 million acre-feet of water storage saved up, including 1.3 million acre-feet in Lake Mead. Plastic milk jugs inexplicably dangle from the tops of the dead trees along the shore. If the outlet tubes cant meet the reservoirs needs, she said, the flow of water in the Grand Canyon itself could be reduced to a trickle. Every year, it stores water that flows downstream from the four Upper Basin states. 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. What about the idea of a water shortage? 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. JOHN DANKOSKY: How are the tribes preparing differently, maybe, than the states are? 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. It can hold 9.3 trillion gallons of water at its peak and reach an elevation of 1,220 feet above sea level. Balken surmises the jugs were tied to the trees back when Lake Powell just covered their upper branches to warn boaters of the hazard beneath the surface. And I think its worth noting that things in the Colorado River basin can be highly variable year to year, and a few good snow years can change peoples opinions quite a bit. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Lake Mead and Lake Powell, for water. The D4 category is something that is only supposed to be designated when youre seeing conditions that are so extreme theyre only happening once every 50 to once every 100 years, said Becky Bolinger, Colorados assistant state climatologist. Its important to differentiate between Lake Powell running dry versus Lake Powell dropping below elevation 3,490 [feet], Taylor Hawes, Colorado River program director at the Nature Conservancy, told The Hill in an interview. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Okay. 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. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. JOHN DANKOSKY: This is Science Friday. The nation's second-largest reservoir is under pressure from climate change and steady demand, and is now . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir and one thatprovides water and power to millions of people in southern California, has reached its lowest levels since its first filling in the 1960s. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. At this stage a significant amount of Glen Canyon . For context, on the scale of no drought to worst drought, theres no category that captures conditions more dry than exceptional. This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. Because of that, its expected that the Department of the Interior'sBureau of Reclamation, which oversees water management, will mandate onesometime next year. Newsweek previously. This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. The nations second-largest reservoir is strained by more than two decades of drought, and its water levels are slipping dangerously low. Drought Conditions Affect Two-Thirds of the U.S. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application. Mountain snowpack is generally below average for this time of year, so that boost may not be as big as it has been in years past. 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. We'll assume you're okay with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. It takes sustained changes in order for these systems to recover. Experts say it wont be a silver bullet, but could stave off near-term danger. 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. 1. During the 2000-2005 drought, Lake Powell lost 13 million acre-feet of water and dropped almost 100 feet. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. 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. This cookie is used for storing country code selected from country selector. According to the National Park Service, contaminants from the newly exposed shorelines are reentering warm, shallow areas and becoming more concentrated. It's partly that there's less rain and snow, partly that as temperatures rise, plants use more water and more water evaporates out of the soil which would otherwise have ended up in the river. You cant do that with groundwater. Theyre already low, because the entire watershed has been experiencing above-average temperatures and below-average river flows since the year 2000. The finding is ominous for the region's future drinking-water supply. Back-to-back dry years years with below-average runoff have left little water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, a reservoir upstream. In the long term, probably not. "That means that due to climate change, it is more likely that we will see [more] extreme heat waves". Is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for storing country code selected from country selector Lake Powell a... Reduce water deliveries even further, he said of data on what videos from YouTube the user consent for cookies! Four Upper Basin states jugs inexplicably dangle from the four Upper Basin states so that New Relic to data! These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent gas emissions rocks! 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