{"id":1834,"date":"2026-06-21T16:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1834"},"modified":"2026-06-21T16:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T16:34:09","slug":"colorado-river-system-continues-slide-toward-crash-despite-emergency-actions-sending-water-to-lake-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1834","title":{"rendered":"Colorado River system continues slide toward crash, despite emergency actions sending water to Lake Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The two major reservoirs on the Colorado River face dire outlooks that will likely spur federal officials to restrict the amount of water flowing downstream \u2014 and decrease hydropower generation \u2014 in the coming months, even after they ordered recent emergency measures.<\/p>\n

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Projections released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show that if dry conditions persist, Lake Powell\u2019s water level could dip below a threshold called \u201cminimum power pool\u201d as soon as February. That\u2019s the level below which water can no longer flow through the reservoir\u2019s hydropower turbines.<\/p>\n

Without intervention, the projections say, the lake will remain below the critical elevation for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

The threat of Powell hitting that threshold \u2014 3,490 feet in elevation \u2014 has hovered above federal water managers for months as the reservoir has continued to drop to record-low levels. In April, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation leaders announced that they would send up to 1 million acre-feet of water from the upstream Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Powell and reduce the amount of water released from Powell to keep the reservoir\u2019s level at 3,500 feet above sea level \u2014 which includes a small buffer Reclamation officials want to maintain to stay above the power pool level.<\/p>\n

Powell\u2019s water levels continue to drop as Colorado River leaders deal with two crises: one climatological and one political. Long-term drought fueled by climate change has shrunk the Colorado River\u2019s flows as federal officials and water leaders in the seven basin states \u2014 including Colorado, home to its headwaters \u2014 struggle to agree on longer-term plans for the river\u2019s management.<\/p>\n

So far, they\u2019ve failed to find agreement on how to divvy up the usage cuts necessary to adapt to lower flows that reduce the water supply for farmers and residents in a region that\u2019s home to 40 million people.<\/p>\n

When Lake Powell\u2019s levels fall below minimum power pool, that means water can no longer flow through the intake tubes for Glen Canyon Dam\u2018s hydropower facility, which is the primary method for moving water downstream from the reservoir in southern Utah.<\/p>\n

Instead, water can move only through much smaller bypass tubes that, for years, have been considered unsafe for long-term use \u2014 though Reclamation officials now say they can be operated safely with continuous maintenance.<\/p>\n

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The bureau\u2019s most recent projections, released Tuesday, show that the emergency measures taken this spring will only be a stopgap, unless extremely wet weather returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to get to 3,500 of elevation (at Powell) this year, and we\u2019re going to stay there for a while, unless we get snowmaggedon,\u201d said Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the University of Colorado Law School. She previously served as the chair of the Upper Colorado River Commission and as assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior.<\/p>\n

The updated projections come on the heels of a new analysis published this month by Castle and a slate of other Colorado River experts. It shows that a relatively dry year would crash the river\u2019s water storage system. The two major reservoirs would then fall so low under such a scenario that they essentially would no longer be usable as water savings accounts.<\/p>\n

Instead, water managers would be able to pass water downstream only as it flowed into the reservoirs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis would be an outcome with devastating consequences,\u201d the five authors stated in the paper.<\/p>\n

\u2018This cannot be allowed to happen\u2019<\/h4>\n

Bureau of Reclamation officials have said they will operate Lake Mead and Lake Powell to keep their water levels from falling below critical elevations. The federal water managers aim to keep Powell at 3,500 feet or higher and Mead at 975 feet \u2014 water levels that allow water to continue flowing through the reservoirs\u2019 hydropower facilities and farther downstream.<\/p>\n

Protecting those reservoir levels means that all the water below those elevations is rendered essentially inaccessible, the study authors wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get to those levels and Reclamation won\u2019t allow the reservoirs to go below those levels, it\u2019s like those reservoirs aren\u2019t there,\u201d Castle said.<\/p>\n

Those levels are coming soon, according to the analysis.<\/p>\n

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Once underwater, Colorado River canyon country reemerges as drought-stricken Lake Powell\u2019s levels drop<\/p>\n

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