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In the face of back-to-back years of less water, Lake Powell has dropped so low that it is close to reaching an elevation at which it was not intended to operate. The emergency reshuffling of water is meant to address a pressing issue amid the larger crisis.

Under the proposed action, federal water managers contemplate leaving 480,000 acre-feet in Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation had planned to release 7.48 million acre-feet from Lake Powell to Lake Mead (an acre-foot is the amount of water that can fill an acre to a depth of one foot). In California alone, the cost of replacement power could be about $5 million, said Bill Hasencamp, the manager of Colorado River Resources for the Metropolitan Water District, which serves most of Southern California.Д«ut he suggested the sacrifice was worth stabilizing Lake Powell, noting that вЂњthe proposal, based on the modeling IвЂ™ve seen, would significantly reduce the risk in the next 18 months.вЂќ In addition to the action resulting in Lake Mead dropping roughly 7 feet lower, it could also have an impact on the hydroelectric power produced at Hoover Dam. But it comes with a cost: Such a move would lead to the further decline of Lake Mead, potentially making the risk of deeper, short-term water cuts more likely. The move is intended to keep Lake Powell stable, providing a small window of relief to the system. Lake Powell and Lake Mead work together in tandem.Д«y keeping more water in Lake Powell, federal officials would release less water downstream to Lake Mead than expected. They are proposing to keep more water in Lake Powell, which is held back by Glen Canyon Dam upstream. In a recent letter first reported by the Arizona Daily StarвЂ™s Tony Davis, federal water managers warned the states that they are considering an emergency action that could accelerate the decline of Lake Mead. Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency tasked with managing the delivery of Colorado River water. вЂњIf the year that weвЂ™re working within is hot and dry, there is more crop demand than if we have storms within the year,вЂќ said Jeremy Dodds, who helps account for water use at the U.S. And water users, including the large municipal purveyor that supplies Southern California, might have to draw on their reserve account at Lake Mead, further lowering the reservoir levels. In Arizona and California, agricultural districts are meeting or exceeding their expected water use due, in part, to a very hot and dry start to the year.

The states in the Lower Colorado River Basin (Arizona, California and Nevada)В depend on Lake Mead, held back by the Hoover Dam.

#TOAD DATA MODELER 25 ENTITIES HOW TO#

A hotter and drier climate has contributed to a smaller river -В less supply.В And water managers are struggling to figure out how to move forward, as some cuts and reductions have been made, but not enough to match the water thatвЂ™s available.ДЄt the same time, similar arid conditions are contributing to upward pressures on demand to use water. Forecasters predict a lackluster runoff, the amount of snow that melts away, drains into the river and eventually reaches the reservoirs. The reservoirs, stocked with water that originates as snowpack, are not expected to refill soon.

Toad data modeler 25 entities