The shoreline it creates, in a red rock desert, is longer than the entire U.S. West Coast.. The combined reservoirs in Utah are below 50% full. VigLink sets this cookie to show users relevant advertisements and also limit the number of adverts that are shown to them. As a key ingredient in everything from asphalt to microchips, scientists are trying to make sand extraction more ecologically friendly. And its split into two watersheds. Its impossible to even guess the odds of the Colorado Basin getting another six-year arid spell any time soon, said Udall and another longtime Colorado River researcher, Connie Woodhouse, a professor in the University of Arizonas School of Geography and Development. Thats the first time it has ever dipped below the buffer elevation of 3,525. Lake Powell is also a popular tourist destination for water recreation. 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. Lake Oroville (of the enormous spillway failure fame) and Lake Shasta, two of California's largest reservoirs, are at critical levels. LUKE RUNYON: Yeah, so this is something that is harder for us to visualize, because were so used to looking at reservoirs and rivers. Lake Oroville, a key component of California's water supply, also benefited from the early-winter storms, as . Without wet hydrology to replenish the reservoirs, the basin finds itself in an all but certain shortage condition for the first time." . Given todays changing climate, led by continued warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, any knowledge we have of the past that historically would help us make predictions does not help us any more, Udall said. "Arizona is, to a greater or lesser degree, selling water to California," CAP attorney said of the later-killed deal. LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing. It survives, she said. It doesn't strain the mind to imagine us losing power within a year. Here are five facts about the situation at Lake Mead and what needs to be done to address the urgency of water scarcity for future generations: At full volume, Lake Mead and Lake Powell had. If Lake Powell recedes much further, one of the nations largest reservoirs could be at risk of no longer generating hydropower for the region. But the last time it was anywhere close to that level was 1999. You cant do that with groundwater. Copyright 2021 Science Friday Initiative. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". People should definitely not feel like the agencies managing the Colorado River have it under control, he said. And as we warm even further, it makes it that much harder for our infrastructure, our water storage, to recover. "This is apparently a decent (water) year, but still, if it turns dry again there are some pretty big reductions on tap and every state could be affected," saidHasencamp. The repercussions of a draining water supply are immense -- farms are drying up, a once-thriving marina now sits more than a mile from lake water and Arizona's Department of Water Resources is . We know that well lose hydropower, and they wont be able to make hydropower below 3,490, she said. Drought contingency plans for the Upper and Lower Basin are now in use. Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . The lake that once covered 400 square miles has shrunk 90 percent, leaving behind oxygen-deprived, highly salinized water with a rotten-egg odor that permeates the surrounding area. It will be painful but it doesn't mean the area can't thrive. And you know, those are cutbacks that users are actually going to feel and that municipal leaders, farmers, tribal users in Arizona are having to plan for right now. In parts of the Colorado River basin, Bolinger said climate change has caused conditions on the ground to bump up against the designated drought categories. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Page mayor: Lake Powell is not drying up. The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering a plan to keep extra water in Lake Powell. But after more than two decades of drought it is now less than 1,050 feet the lowest since the lake was filled, and falling about a foot a week. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. LinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website. Lakes in the Colorado River Basin are drying up and losing water, with severe water cuts now expected across four states - the start of a water crisis in the West. The dropping water levels are indicated by white marks on the canyon wall, often likened to a bathtub ring. They are trying to negotiate a three-state deal that would reduce water deliveries even further, he said. Water managers in the four Upper Basin states and the federal government are expected to start monthly planning calls this year to consider options for propping up the reservoir if needed. Water management requires planning for the future. Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday. The dryness is currently off the charts in parts of the watershed. Understanding and explaining the depth of the dryness is up to climate scientists throughout the basin. 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. They don't have it under control. Water levels at . 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. In the long term, probably not. which could funnel up to 300,000 acre-feet from Powell.One of those projects, Utah's Lake Powell pipeline to St. George, would . Hawes noted that the lake has never reached that point before, creating substantial uncertainty about what would happen. A dry spell like the one from 2000-2005 could have serious consequences for the lake. Things will have to change in how we do business.. Forecasts dont paint a pretty picture for snowpack either. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. The Lower Basin fares worse, with 93% of the land area in those categories. At its highest, in 1983, the lake was 3,708 feet above sea level. This drought will only be exacerbated by climate change, as the increased global temperatures are expected to increase the severity of drought weather and frequencies of wildfires, as well as influencing a vast range of other extreme weather events. 30 Broad Street, Suite 801 We're most likely witnessing the end of this reservoir. Lake Mead the largest reservoir in the Colorado River Basin is losing water at record speeds, dropping . 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. Complicating matters are the ongoing talks on allocation between the seven states on the Colorado River, the source of the lakes waters. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. At 3,490 feet, Glen Canyon Dam reaches "minimum power pool." All signs point to a hotter, drier future for the Western U.S. LinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting. Im John Dankosky, and now its time to check in on the state of science. Glen Canyon Dam can release water below minimum power pool through bypass jets until an elevation of 3,370 feet, which is then the top of dead pool and no further water can be released. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. Weve seen declines in snowpack at the headwaters of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Thanks so much for joining us. 2020. If the reservoir dips below 895 feet a possibility still years. This story was reported by Luke Runyon on KUNC. The water level on Lake Powell is 100 feet from its high mark in August 2013. Creosote is one I personally like to call it the cockroach of the vegetation world because pretty much nothing kills creosote. Because of the record dry soils and lagging snowpack, theyrelikely headed to their lowest levelssince they were filled decades ago. Its depth level currently stands at around 3,530 feet. 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. For the authoritative record of Science Fridays programming, please visit the original aired/published recording. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam forms Lake Mead. And theres already a supply-demand imbalance on the Colorado River, and the supply is shrinking faster than officials are able to shrink the demands that we have on the river. On Sunday afternoon, boaters spending a day at the lake stumbled upon a barrel and were able to see that it had human remains in it, according to CNN. Climate scientists call it D4. Lake Powell upstream of Lake Mead on the Colorado River is at its lowest level on record. So when Lake Mead declines, certain policy triggers are put in place. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. Back-to-back dry years years with below-average runoff have left little water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, a reservoir upstream. The dry years are what force the really important steps forward in the policy community.. 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. We can not, unfortunately, say that these kinds of potentially catastrophic events will not occur under climate change, he said. Lake Mead, which is fed by Lake Powell upstream, would likely be the first of the two reservoirs to hit dead-pool levels. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. SiteLock sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services. This cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. Forecasts are calling for 4.1 million acre-feet of water to flow into Lake Powell from April to July this year, but water managers are obligated to release more than 7 million acre-feet out of the lake. So the upper watershed, you have the headwater states. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Science Friday transcripts are produced on a tight deadline by 3Play Media. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Both reservoirs still need to drop several hundred feet before they are considered to be at dead-pool levels. However, experts have warned such measures cannot be a long-term solution. 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. The basin is made up of portions of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Upper Colorado Commissions computer models have shown that if the Upper Basin states take the precautionary measures theyre talking about, the risk of Powell falling to dangerously low levels is near zero even if the basin gets another 25 years of weather like it did from 1988 through 2012, said Don Ostler, executive director the Upper Colorado River Commission. 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. Climatologist Jon Meyer with the Utah Climate Center said the number that captures the severity for him is 12 inches. The finding is ominous for the region's future drinking-water supply. It sucks up moisture from forests, backyard gardens and crop fields with greater intensity. Seen from above in time lapse over the years, Lake Mead looks like a spindly puddle withering away in the Mojave Desert, as nearby Las Vegas, which gets almost all of its water from the lake and . The nation's second-largest reservoir is under pressure from climate change and steady demand, and is now . And what does that mean for the users on the river? And there is some evidence that this dry period would have happened without our greenhouse gas emissions. 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. Many of the. Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. Lake Powell has been called Jewel of the Colorado by the federal agency that built it, the Bureau of Reclamation. On top of the hydropower the lake generates, its the source of drinking water for the 7,500 residents of Page, Az., and the 1,443 members of the LeChee chapter of the Navajo Nation. Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River, Arizona. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Reclamation released about 500,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah and Wyoming to Lake Powell, increasing its elevation about 16 feet. Is climate change the same thing as global warming? JOHN DANKOSKY: When you use the term megadrought, that sounds like a newer term. Record-breaking high temperatures dragged well into fall. Pause your chores until you have a full-load for the dishwasher. What is the current status of Lake Powell? . Fidelity to the original aired/published audio or video file might vary, and text might be updated or amended in the future. Brad Udall, a water researcher at Colorado State University whos not involved with the contingency plan, is less optimistic. Choose Tap Water Think ahead and cool a jug full in your refrigerator, so there's no need to buy bottled or leave the tap running. Applying data from three droughts from a 25-year period starting in 1988, it predicted that even with little new growth in that basin, a moderate drought would trigger shortages of 350,000 to 500,000 acre-feet. He and his wife have four cats, thousands of bees, and a yoga studio in the sleepy Northwest hills of Connecticut. Scientists say the current status of Lake Mead is a stark illustration of climate change and a megadrought that could be the worst in the U.S. West in 1,200 years . Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Its companion reservoir, Lake Mead, is at levels almost as low. It is not creating certainty in the water market, Mankin said. That includes releases of water upstream of Lake Powell, and voluntary cuts in Powells downstream neighbor, Lake Mead. 2002, 2018 and 2021 are the most intense dry periods on record for the basin. This cookie is native to PHP applications. Joining me to shed a little bit more light on this is Luke Runyon. And thats really what were watching right now, is how low is Lake Mead going to go? Welcome back to Science Friday, Luke. Even though conditions may be evolving and getting even worse, we dont really have a way to depict that, because D4, thats that ceiling, she said. 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. Every year, it stores water that flows downstream from the four Upper Basin states. More. Arizona, which receives 36 percent of its water supply from the river, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, has been hit hardest by the cuts. A drought that has gripped the Southwest is creeping the nation's two largest reservoirs toward a dead pool, which would have catastrophic consequences for water users in the Colorado River's lower basin. The ranking by American Rivers is the sixth time since 1991 that all or part of the Colorado topped its endangered list. For those talks to start in the middle of another record-breaking dry period should make it clear to everyone involved: the future of the Colorado River is all about learning to live with less. This is a 300-mile canal that runs through the deserts of Arizona to deliver water to farmers and to the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Thank you for helping us continue making science fun for everyone. Water levels have been getting lower and lower, and for the first time ever, a shortage seems almost certain. Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@tucson.com or 806-7746. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. "It's tough to see," Levy told 12News. Down the Colorado River lies Lake Mead, which is also seeing lower water levels than ever before. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. Lake Powell is in crisis. Monsoon rains didnt arrive. With the dropping water levels, this industry is likely to be extremely impacted, as seen by a boating ramp that used to be used to launch boats now having a 50 foot drop between the end of the ramp and the water. I said at the top that we dont have an official water shortage. Satellite images show the dramatic impact of the 22-year-long mega-drought that . A drying climate and withering heat in recent years have pummeled the region: water cuts to farmers, dry wells, mass fish and bird die-offs, and depleted reservoirs that have decimated hydropower output. The Santa Cruz River is now a giant bed of dust and sand. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Is this as bad as climate change is going to get in shrinking the snowpacks in the headwaters? If decision makers do nothing and take no action and just let the reservoir crash without structurally modifying the dam, there will be a lot of really big problems.. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to fill one acre of land to a height of one foot. Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. This is prompting a lot of people to ask whats going to happen next. He covers the Colorado River basin. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. Federal and state officials have committed to a more inclusive process that integrates the needs of tribes, environmental and recreation groups, and Mexico. The use of these cookies is strictly limited to measuring the site's audience. And thats left Lake Powell at 34% of its capacity. The loss of generation from the lake would deprive the grid of about a quarter million households worth of power. 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. It is something in peer-reviewed, published science for decades and decades that the managers of the Colorado River have been ignoring.. New York, NY 10004. If water levels at Lake Powell drop just another 32 feet, those generators will stop spinning. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. Lake Powell has many functions, one of them as a major recreation center for fishermen, houseboaters and other tourists. LUKE RUNYON: Well, this is kind of a narrative or storyline in the basin that has gotten a lot more attention recently, is how have tribal users been excluded from agreements in the past? LUKE RUNYON: Sure, so much of the attention in the basin goes towards the rivers largest reservoirs, which also happen to be the biggest reservoirs in the entire United States. Text might be updated or amended in the Colorado River lies Lake Mead declines, certain policy are. 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