The bureau also announced it would release an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge reservoir in Wyoming to further raise the water level at Powell. To view the 2023 progession of snowpack above Lake Powell, click on Lake Powell Snow Chart. Fresh Water News is an independent, non-partisan news initiative of Water Education Colorado. Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. In addition to daily scheduled fluctuations for power generation, the instantaneous releases from Glen Canyon Dam may also fluctuate to provide 40 megawatts (MW) of system regulation. The bureau, in consultation with tribal nations and the seven Colorado River Basin states, decided to keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell that had originally been planned to be released to the Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California this year. 192 0 obj <>stream 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. Lake Powell has several launch ramps along its 186-mile length. The sediment-filled Colorado River appeared green-brown. The Upper Basin reservoirs have already provided 161,000 acre-feet of water pursuant to the imminent need provision of the Drought Response Operations Agreement, including 36,000 acre-feet from Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado. Were going to be generating less than we have in quite some time. Soil moisture conditions have improved over the last year across most of Colorados Western Slope, but thats not necessarily saying much because of how bad soil moisture conditions were heading into last years snowmelt runoff season, Moser said. Federal and state water managers have watched the water level in Lake Powell closely this year. The final NOAA forecast for the season predicts the amount of water to reach Lake Powell this year to be about 60% of average. Utahs Flaming Gorge, Colorados Blue Mesa and New Mexicos Navajo. But in a statement, she said, The Upper Basin States are working collaboratively with the Bureau of Reclamation to draft a 2022 Drought Response Operations Plan outlining potential releases from Upper Basin reservoirs in an effort to protect critical elevations at Lake Powell. It wasnt just the Powell number that dipped, although the amount of runoff that makes its way to Powell each year is considered a good barometer for conditions basinwide. As the forecast season progresses, WEco is funded by multiple donors. Gas Prices on Lake 175 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<68753438768B134985CC80C922059B30>]/Index[159 34]/Info 158 0 R/Length 84/Prev 199590/Root 160 0 R/Size 193/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream To view the current inflow forecast relative to past inflows, click on Lake Powell Inflow Forecast. inflow forecast for water year 2022 by approximately 2.2 million acre-feet from . google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; While the lake was significantly higher in 2011 and 2012 than in 2005, a careful comparison of the side canyons reveals that the level was still not back to 1999 levels, when the lake was near full capacity. Up to 80 percent of water use in the basin is for agricultural purposes, but urban water conservation serves an important purpose, too. The 30-year average was updated in October 2022 from 1981 through 2010 to 1991 through 2020. Glen Canyon Dam currently maintains 30 mw (approximately 800 cfs) of generation capacity in reserve in order to respond to a system emergency even when generation rates are already high. Flight Center. As a news piece, this article cites verifiable, third-party sources which have all been thoroughly fact-checked and deemed credible by the Newsroom in accordance with the Civil Constitution. Last Reading: 3521.11 on Feb 27, 2023 Powell was last within 2" of this elevation on Feb 26, 2023 There are currently 1,734,731,016,499 gallons of water in Lake Powell! View CFS Last 14 Measurements Lake Powell is down -1.03 feet over these measurements Averages for February 27th Last 10 February 27th's data records At the same time, power producers are gearing up to craft a fallback plan for extending hydropower production at Glen Canyon Dam if water levels continue to fall. The grim forecast comes as water officials race to bolster Lake Powells water levels. "I would be reluctant to limit it to years just since 2000, because I think there is some value in acknowledging the variability that goes on in our basin," he says. He also was an associate editor at 5280 and a reporter for the Vail Daily. Lukas noted that the dry soil conditions are factored into the NOAA runoff predictions from the get-go so there shouldnt necessarily be any big surprises with that particular variable. swE{,,;o0U|+/ :u7j@;pGh00gr\j30sAD+ ON 9 The Bureau of Reclamation announced on May 3, 2022, two separate urgent drought response actions that will help prop up Lake Powell by nearly 1 million acre-feet (maf) of water over the next 12 months (May 2022 through April 2023). Reclamation will continue to consult with the Basin States, Basin Tribes, the Republic of Mexico and other partners on Colorado River operations to consider and determine whether additional measures should be taken to further enhance the preservation of these benefits, as well as recovery protocols, including those of future protective measures for both Lakes Powell and Mead. But the declining water already has drained some of the fun, he said. An initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state our community can better understand itself. The May report, released last week, is the final runoff prediction for the season. Lake Powell
lake powell water level forecast 2022