Lake Powell on the Colorado River fell to its lowest level on record last week, highlighting long-term risks to the reservoir that stores water for delivery to Lake Mead and to Arizona, California and Nevada.
But on a brighter note, a good snowpack season has boosted the latest forecast for Lake Powell to a level not reached in more than two years. The predicted increase will not, however, bring anywhere near enough water to completely reverse declines in the lake's water levels stretching back to 2000.
People are also reading… The decline in the past year was expected but is much less severe and will last for a much shorter duration than declines at Powell in the last couple of years, due to federal"drought response actions," said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Becki Bryant.
The declines have been severe enough that the Bureau of Reclamation and the seven river basin states, including Arizona, are locked in still-unsuccessful negotiations over how to cut use of river water. Over the next week to 10 days, forecasters say, the rains and snows that marked the early periods of winter should resume, meaning there will be below average temperatures and above normal precipitation — which would boost river and lake levels more.
But"we’ve had more dry years than we’ve had big years. What we’re seeing is not unusual. Wet years are part of our overall pattern. We haven't had enough of them," Kuhn said. Recovery of both lakes could be achieved more quickly if the states reduce their water use and their water losses to forces such as evaporation, he said.
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