The Bureau of Reclamation has set 2023 operating conditions for the reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, through a recently released 24-month study, as the drought crisis has prompted the Department of the Interior to address the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System.
More action is needed to protect the system in addressing the “prolonged drought and low runoff conditions accelerated by climate change,” causing “historically low water levels in Lakes Powell and Mead,” the Bureau of Reclamation said.
Colorado River Basin’s water management and conservation will benefit from $4 billion earmarked for it in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The Biden-Harris administration is taking an all-of-government approach to mitigating the drought, and the Interior Department is committed to using every resource available to conserve water and ensure that irrigators, tribes and adjoining communities receive adequate assistance and support to build resilient communities and protect our water supplies,” Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau said, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
When full, Lake Powell is designed to hold over 26 million acre-feet (maf) of water “from snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico,” according to Western Resource Advocates.
“Lake Powell acts as the primary storage account for water that originates in the Green, Gunnison, San Juan and Colorado rivers and is eventually released to Lake Mead and the Lower Colorado River Basin states of Arizona, Nevada, California and eventually Mexico,” Western Resource Advocates said. “The storage provided in Lake Powell is absolutely critical for the ability of the entire Colorado River Basin system to supply water for upwards of 40 million people in these seven basin states and Mexico.”
A “Law of the River” requires that “a minimum amount of water be distributed from the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico to Lake Mead and the Lower Basin states.” The minimum objective release from Lake Powell to Lake Mead has been 8.23 maf (million acre feet) since the early 1970s.
The “Operations Plan for Colorado River Reservoirs,” a 24-month study completed this month, said that reduced water releases from Lake Powell from 7.48 million acre-feet to 7.00 million acre-feet “in water year 2022 will result in a reduced release volume of 0.480 maf that normally would have been released from Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead as part of the 7.48 maf annual release volume.”
“The reduction of releases from Glen Canyon Dam in water year 2022 (resulting in increased storage in Lake Powell) will not affect future operating determinations and will be accounted for ‘as if’ this volume of water had been delivered to Lake Mead,” the study said. “The August 2022 24-Month Study modeled 2023 and 2024 operations at Lakes Powell and Mead as if the 0.480 maf had been delivered to Lake Mead for operating condition purposes both for the U.S. Lower Basin and for Mexico.”
The release said drought operations to protect Lake Powell were implemented in May under the Upper Basin Drought Response Operations Agreement, and Glen Canyon Dam releases were reduced under the 2007 Interim Guidelines. Those operations provided approximately 1 million acre-feet of additional water to help protect Lake Powell’s water levels.
“Building on these important responsive actions, Reclamation will begin efforts to modify low reservoir operations at both Lake Powell and Lake Mead to be prepared to reduce releases from these reservoirs in 2024 to address continued drought and low runoff conditions in the Basin,” the Bureau of Reclamation said.
This is not the first time that drought has been a concern for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, according to Interior Newswire. Last year's operating conditions took note of the drought conditions and the effect on both lakes. And last year, the Colorado River was the subject of a water shortage.
As water stewards, the Bureau of Reclamation has the responsibility to protect the system and people who depend on it, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said.
“Reclamation remains fully committed to working in a consensus manner across the Upper and Lower Basins, with tribes and with the country of Mexico. I am confident that, by working together, we can achieve meaningful change toward a sustainable future for the river that serves as the lifeblood of the American West,” Touton said, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
