Overview
- Lake Powell fell to 3,519.91 feet on Saturday, the lowest recorded level since measurements began, leaving it roughly 30 feet above the elevation where turbines can no longer generate electricity.
- Combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead now holds just under 60% of the Colorado River basin’s water, a level not seen since the 1950s that reduces the system’s ability to smooth dry years.
- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has proposed a multi-year (10-year) plan and is deploying emergency transfers, paid conservation programs and short-term mandatory cuts while states await specific reduction orders.
- Experts say municipal taps are not likely to run dry in the immediate term, but hydropower losses, shrinking recreation, business disruptions and likely deeper cuts to agriculture are already occurring.
- Scientists attribute the crisis to roughly a 20% decline in river flows since 2000 from higher temperatures, lower snowpack and heavy use, and they warn one wet season will not restore the system without sustained demand cuts and new supply projects.