Tag Archive for: Lake Powell

Megadrought Fuels Debate Over Whether a Flooded Canyon Should Reemerge

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles and Nathan Rott

In the 1960s, the Bureau of Reclamation built a dam that flooded a celebrated canyon on the Utah-Arizona border. Today, it’s known as Lake Powell — the second-largest reservoir in the U.S.

A half billion dollar tourism industry has grown in the desert around the reservoir but a decades-long megadrought is putting its future in question.

With what some call America’s ‘lost national park’ reemerging, an old debate is also resurfacing: should we restore a beloved canyon or refill a popular and critical reservoir?

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Rocky Mountain Snow Pack Good for the Valley, Pandemic Not So Good

/in , , /by /The Desert Reviewby Betty Miller

The water and electrical divisions of the Imperial Irrigation District presented positive and negative reports respectively to the IID Board at the Tuesday, Jan. 18, regular meeting.

IID Water Manager Tina Shields gave a hydrology report about the recent, “nice little snowpack” brought by the recent storm. She said the Bureau of Reclamation had been having operational discussions of moving waters to Lake Powell to keep its water levels from falling below the minimum level necessary for the lake’s Glen Canyon Dam turbines to generate hydroelectricity. The snowpack will keep the water level high enough for the turbines to intake water for producing electricity.

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Phoenix Among Those Voluntarily Losing Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

The city of Phoenix this week outlined how it will voluntarily contribute water to a regional plan to shore up the country’s largest reservoir that delivers Colorado River water to three states and Mexico.

The river cannot provide seven Western states the water they were promised a century ago because of less snow, warmer temperatures and water lost to evaporation. Water managers repeatedly have had to pivot to develop plans to sustain it for the long-term.

Phoenix, the nation’s fifth-largest city, is among entities in the river’s lower basin that are part of the “500+ Plan” meant to delay further mandatory shortages. All pieces of the plan haven’t been finalized, but farmers and Native American tribes are expected to play a big role.

The Colorado River serves more than 40 million people in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Utah and Mexico. Lake Mead and Lake Powell store the water and are used to gauge the river’s health.

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Opinion: The Lower Basin Inked A Plan To Save Lake Mead In Just 4 Months. But We’re Not Done

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Joanna Allhands

The takeaway from the “500-plus plan,” the recently inked effort to save Lake Mead, can be summed up in just three words:

We’re. Not. Done.

That doesn’t make the deal any less consequential.

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Southwest States Facing Tough Choices About Water as Colorado River Diminishes

/in , , /by /60 Minutesby Bill Whitaker

This past week, California declared a statewide drought emergency. It follows the first-ever federal shortage declaration on the Colorado River, triggering cuts to water supplies in the Southwest. The Colorado is the lifeblood of the region. It waters some of the country’s fastest-growing cities, nourishes some of our most fertile fields and powers $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity. The river runs more than 1,400 miles, from headwaters in the Rockies to its delta in northern Mexico where it ends in a trickle. Seven states and 30 Native American tribes lie in the Colorado River Basin. Lately, the river has been running dry due to the historically severe drought.

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Drought Forces West to Turn to Fossil Fuels That Helped Cause It

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Tripp Baltz

An unlikely energy sector is emerging as a winner from the West’s megadrought: fossil fuels, whose heavy use has been blamed for creating the conditions causing the drought in the first place.

The drought has slashed the electricity-generating capacity of major hydroelectric dams, forcing buyers to spend millions of dollars to buy extra power from an expensive sellers’ market.

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US Projections on Drought-Hit Colorado River Grow More Dire

/in , , /by /AP News

The U.S. government released projections Wednesday that indicate an even more troubling outlook for a river that serves 40 million people in the American West.

The Bureau of Reclamation recently declared the first-ever shortage on the Colorado River, which means Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will get less water than normal next year. By 2025, there’s a 66% chance Lake Mead, a barometer for how much river water some states get, will reach a level where California would be in its second phase of cuts. The nation’s most populated state has the most senior rights to river water.

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Opinion: Depleted by Drought, Lakes Powell and Mead Were Doomed from the Beginning

/in , , /by /Washington Postby Becky Bolinger

For the first time, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a water shortage for Lake Mead starting in 2022. Located between southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona, Lake Mead provides water and generates electricity for the more than 20 million people in the lower Colorado River Basin.

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Colorado River Reservoir at 40% Capacity, Lowest Level Ever

/in , , /by /KYMAby April Hettinger

It’s no secret the Colorado River Basin is experiencing one of its worst droughts in record history.

Now, hydrologists are minimizing water usage next year. Lake Mead and Lake Powell are at their lowest water elevation levels ever, and it’s only expected to get worse as we head into 2022, according to Wade Noble, who serves on the general council for four of Yuma’s irrigation districts.

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Drought-Hit Blue Mesa Reservoir Losing 8 Feet Of Water To Save Lake Powell. A Western Slope Marina Feels The Pain.

/in , /by /CPR Newsby Michael Elizabeth Sakas

People wait in line at Elk Creek Marina to back their trailers into the water to pull their boats out of the lake. Some, like Walter Swetkoff, are frustrated.

Swetkoff and his wife have sailed Blue Mesa Reservoir outside of Gunnison, Colo., for more than 30 years. The National Park Service told everyone who stores their boats at the marina they had 10 days to get out of the water because of the drought.

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