OR ICOULD WAVE MY MAGIC WAND AND MAKE IT RAIN.
dp
In a message dated 3/23/2022 3:53:28 AM Mountain Standard Time,
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Appears as though you should return to Colorado and decrease the electrical
demand on Lake Powel. Every little bit helps. Mike On Tuesday, March 22, 2022,
04:51:03 PM CDT, dpolhill <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: nOW LAKE pOWEL
IS SO LOW IT MAY INTERRUPT producing ELECTRICITY. and its volume is reduced by
4% due to sedimentation. DP
Lake Powell Hits Historic Low, Raising Hydropower Concerns Amid Drought – CBS
Denver
Lake Powell Hits Historic Low, Raising Hydropower Concerns Amid Drought
March 21, 2022 at 8:52 amFiled Under:Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado River
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A massive reservoir known as a boating mecca dipped below
a critical threshold on Tuesday raising new concerns about a source of power
that millions of people in the U.S. West rely on for electricity. Lake Powell’s
fall to below 3,525 feet puts it at its lowest level since the lake filled
after the federal government dammed the Colorado River at Glen Canyon more than
a half-century ago — a record marking yet another sobering realization of the
impacts of climate change and megadrought.
The Glen Canyon Dam, near the town of Page, Arizona is pictured on August 25,
2020. – Glen Canyon Dam is a 710-foot high dam forms Lake Powell, one of the
largest man-made reservoirs in the U.S. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by
DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
It comes as hotter temperatures and less precipitation leave a smaller amount
flowing through the over-tapped Colorado River. Though water scarcity is hardly
new in the region, hydropower concerns at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona reflect
that a future western states assumed was years away is approaching — and fast.
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“We clearly weren’t sufficiently prepared for the need to move this quickly,”
said John Fleck, director of the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources
Program.
Federal officials are confident water levels will rise in the coming months
once snow melts in the Rockies. But they warn that more may need to be done to
ensure Glen Canyon Dam can keep producing hydropower in the years ahead.
“Spring runoff will resolve the deficit in the short term,” said Wayne Pullan,
regional director for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages water and
power in more than a dozen states. “However, our work is not done.”
Though both Lake Powell and its downstream counterpart, Lake Mead, are dropping
faster than expected, much of the region’s focus has been on how to deal with
water scarcity in Arizona, Nevada and California, not electricity supply.
For Glen Canyon Dam, the new level is 35 feet above what’s considered “minimum
power pool” — the level at which its turbines would stop producing
hydroelectric power.
LAKE POWELL, UT – JUNE 11: A boat makes its way down the main channel of Lake
Powell which is at historic lows on June 11, 2021 in Lake Powell, Utah. The
high full pool water mark of 3700 can be seen on the red rock and now is at
historic lows because of a severe drought in the Western United States. (Photo
by George Frey/Getty Images)
If Lake Powell drops even more, it could soon hit “deadpool” — the point at
which water likely would fail to flow through the dam and onto Lake Mead.
Arizona, Nevada, California, and Mexico already are taking a combination of
mandatory and voluntary cuts tied to Lake Mead’s levels.
About 5 million customers in seven states — Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — buy power generated at Glen Canyon Dam.
The government provides it at a cheaper rate than energy sold on the wholesale
market, which can be wind, solar, coal or natural gas.
For the cities, rural electric cooperatives and tribes that rely on its
hydropower, less water flowing through Glen Canyon Dam can therefore increase
total energy costs. Customers bear the brunt.
The situation worries the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, one of the 50 tribal
suppliers that rely on the dam for hydropower. It plans to spend $4.5 million
on an alternative energy supply this year.
“It’s a very sensitive issue for all of us right now,” said Walter Haase, the
tribal utility’s general manager.
Bureau of Reclamation officials last summer took an unprecedented step and
diverted water from reservoirs in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado in
what they called “emergency releases” to replenish Lake Powell. In January, the
agency also held back water scheduled to be released through the dam to prevent
it from dipping even lower.
Anxieties stretch beyond hydropower. Last summer, tourism and boating were
hobbled by falling lake levels. The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is
taking advantage of the low levels at Lake Powell to extend boat ramps. Most
are now closed or come with warnings to launch at your own risk.
In Page, Arizona, which benefits from recreation at Lake Powell, officials
launched a campaign this month to highlight that lower levels aren’t
necessarily bad for visitors, noting receding shorelines have revealed sunken
boats, canyons and other geographic wonders.
“There’s tremendous amounts of history out there,” City Councilman Richard
Leightner said. “You can see some of the old dwellings, and parts of the Old
Spanish Trail are accessible now. It’s an opportunity, but it just depends on
the person’s frame of mind.”
Lake Powell (credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)
The record low also comes after a tough year for hydropower. Last year, as U.S.
officials worked to expand renewable energy, drought in the West drove a
decline in hydropower generation, making it harder for officials to meet
demand. Hydropower accounts for more than one-third of the nation’s
utility-scale renewable energy.
Nick Williams, the bureau’s Upper Colorado Basin power manager, said many
variables, including precipitation and heat, will determine the extent to which
Lake Powell rebounds in the coming months.
Regardless, hydrology modeling suggests there’s roughly a 1 in 4 chance it
won’t be able to produce power by 2024.
By SAM METZ and FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press
(© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
