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About 70% of the American West is in a drought. Cities are telling residents to cut their water usage, farmers are abandoning their crops, and local officials are asking how much water is left for the millions upon millions of people who need it.
Lake Powell, one of the Colorado River’s most important reservoirs, is set to receive 13% of its normal spring runoff, the lowest amount from upstream snowmelt on record, according to a federal forecast Thursday.
The reservoir, located on the Utah-Arizona border, helps pace the flow of water to millions of people, multibillion-dollar industries, hydropower facilities and protected environments in the immense Colorado River Basin. It is also in dire straits: As of Thursday, it held 23% of its capacity. It’s months away from extremely low water levels that would halt hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam.
The expected record-low inflows won’t help.
If the forecast is accurate, “it would be the lowest April through July volume on record for Lake Powell,” Cody Moser, a forecaster with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, said during a webinar Thursday.
The federal Colorado Basin River Forecast Center tracks conditions in the basin and prepares forecasts used by the federal government to determine how the water for 40 million people in the West should be managed.
Since Oct. 1, about 408,000 acre-feet of water has reached the reservoir. That includes water from the sudden snowmelt triggered by a record-breaking heat wave in March, Moser said.
The expected flow of water into the reservoir this year is about 800,000 acre-feet. There’s still a 50% chance that it could be higher, but the forecasts become more certain with every day that passes, he said.
One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or the annual water use of two to four urban households.
The basin has just endured one of its worst winters on record. Snowpack was low, temperatures were high and spring precipitation hasn’t been enough to make up for the water deficits.
UPDATE: State of Emergency declared in Colorado
Chum in Vancouver BC just informed me they are facing water restrictions. Vancouver British Columbia, the province of Rocky Mountains, many rivers and massive hydro dams. where forty nights and days of rain are a yawn. Well shit and FM!