Powell/Mead water releases - feds threaten restrictions

[caribbean20]

Just saw this article. Looks like something similar to imminent domain. If the warring factions below Hoover Dam can’t get their shit together, the feds are threatening to trump everyone for the greater good.

Not good for Mohave and Havasu water levels if they do act, but really, what else can they do, commission a nationwide rain dance?

Feds begin 'expedited' process to help save drought-stricken Colorado River | CNN

The US Department of Interior announced Friday it is launching an "expedited" process to potentially change water-flow operations on the drought-stricken Colorado River, as Lake Mead and Lake Powell have fallen to alarming new lows.

www.cnn.com

 

[Racey]

Also, fuck CNN

 

[Echo Lodge]

Low water Thursday on the Strip will change to low water week! If it gets really bad I can always walk across the "stream" from Echo to Fox's.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Could you imaging the absolute shit show that would result if the Fed essentially shut all the dams off to water releases except to make power and conserve as much water as they could?

Places like the strip and Laughlin would be ghost towns and the lakes would be like a New York City sidewalk. Not to mention all the screaming from the farmers.

 

[throttle]

 

[77charger]

Could you imaging the absolute shit show that would result if the Fed essentially shut all the dams off to water releases except to make power and conserve as much water as they could?

Places like the strip and Laughlin would be ghost towns and the lakes would be like a New York City sidewalk. Not to mention all the screaming from the farmers.

You mean the ones that think havasu is the only lake around

 

[Ironmike]

Well, the people THAT EMPLOY THIS INDUSTRY should be on a " DO NOT COMPLY" Stance!!!!! Please explain to all of as to why the fk they are wasting the water straight to the ocean and not keeping the Colorado River FULL!!!!! They are not transferring the water to agriculture at all!!!!!! WHY?????!!!!!!!!!!! WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS??!!!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN FOR SOME SORT OF UNDERSTANDING!!!!!!!
WE ALL NEED TO FIGHT THIS BS!!!!!! OR ALL THE LAKE / RIVER LIFE WILL BE LOST AND GONE!!!!! THIS NEEDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

 

[Boat 405]

Havasu and Mohave are a drop in the bucket in comparison to Powell and Mead. This is just fear mongering. They have already implemented water cutbacks through Glen Canyon dam.

 

[was thatguy]

Well, the people THAT EMPLOY THIS INDUSTRY should be on a " DO NOT COMPLY" Stance!!!!! Please explain to all of as to why the fk they are wasting the water straight to the ocean and not keeping the Colorado River FULL!!!!! They are not transferring the water to agriculture at all!!!!!! WHY?????!!!!!!!!!!! WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS??!!!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN FOR SOME SORT OF UNDERSTANDING!!!!!!!
WE ALL NEED TO FIGHT THIS BS!!!!!! OR ALL THE LAKE / RIVER LIFE WILL BE LOST AND GONE!!!!! THIS NEEDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

The CO river doesn’t normally go to the ocean.

 

[paradise]

Well, the people THAT EMPLOY THIS INDUSTRY should be on a " DO NOT COMPLY" Stance!!!!! Please explain to all of as to why the fk they are wasting the water straight to the ocean and not keeping the Colorado River FULL!!!!! They are not transferring the water to agriculture at all!!!!!! WHY?????!!!!!!!!!!! WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS??!!!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN FOR SOME SORT OF UNDERSTANDING!!!!!!!
WE ALL NEED TO FIGHT THIS BS!!!!!! OR ALL THE LAKE / RIVER LIFE WILL BE LOST AND GONE!!!!! THIS NEEDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

Huh?

 

[River Runnin]

QUIT feeding them Fuk'n Chinese fields on the CRIT Reservation!

 

[Singleton]

QUIT feeding them Fuk'n Chinese fields on the CRIT Reservation!

It’s not Chinese on CRIT, those are Middle East (Saudi) leased fields

 

[River Runnin]

It’s not Chinese on CRIT, those are Middle East (Saudi) leased fields

Same shit! --- They're burning up our water supply!

 

[stokerwhore]

The CO river doesn’t normally go to the ocean.

It actually has been since 2015 if you believe the satellite images. It may not make it to the ocean but yeah it’s been being dumped by the delta there. First was a trial run in 2013 if I remember right. Then a few years later they started it again and have kept at it ever since. I mentioned it before and had one Or two peeps notice what I posted but they didn’t have the reading skills to under stand what I said or knew what they were looking at, just knee jerk reactions. Anyway, I started looking into it. It was an interesting search for policy not so much for what was found but what was missing. Started finding references to docs that dictate water flow policy that apparently don’t exist as far as any search I could do would reveal. Or I could be totally wrong.

 

[jet496]

I remember an article just couple years ago how they added others to the water distribution list even though we were in drought & remember thinking how stupid that was. I did a quick Google search but only see recent shit, probably only stuff they want us to see.

 

[DC-88]

I never know what to make of these annual notices, but got this one a couple months ago. We have a few acre ft of water rights so not a major user. During the Covid time they really did dump 20,000 + CFS for months and months on end creating the current lake levels upstream. It seems scaled way back now .

 

[Swain]

Don’t put CNN links on here lol. Fuck them

 

[caribbean20]

Don’t put CNN links on here lol. Fuck them

Here, does this make you feel better. And saying LOL, really?? Adults are in the room.

Interior Department Initiates Significant Action to Protect Colorado River System | U.S. Department of the Interior

Interior today announced expedited steps to prepare new measures that are needed to improve and protect the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System.

www.doi.gov

 

[grumpy88]

Here, does this make you feel better. And saying LOL, really?? Adults are in the room.

Interior Department Initiates Significant Action to Protect Colorado River System | U.S. Department of the Interior

Interior today announced expedited steps to prepare new measures that are needed to improve and protect the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System.

www.doi.gov

They don't say what there plan is .

 

[caribbean20]

The article mentions reducing water releases from Glenn Canyon and Hoover Dams, ostensibly to ensure continued ability to generate hydro power from the turbines.

 

[rivermobster]

They don't say what there plan is .

Seems like they wanna modify this one a bit...

Interior Department Announces Actions to Protect Colorado River System, Sets 2023 Operating Conditions for Lake Powell and Lake Mead | U.S. Department of the Interior

As the worsening drought crisis continues to impact the West, the Interior today announced urgent action to protect the sustainability of the Colorado River System.

www.doi.gov

Most likely a dog and pony show for the most part.

 

[throttle]

While visiting Lake Powell last July, we went on a raft excursion for the day. It was pretty cool to say the least.

I recall our guide mentioning something about how they “flush” the river below the dam to clean out some over grown and evasive vegetation. Still makes me wonder about the management of our water ways.

Couple cool pics here don’t even come close to doing it justice. Our adventure is worthy of its own thread (maybe in 2 more weeks).

 

[caribbean20]

While visiting Lake Powell last July, we went on a raft excursion for the day. It was pretty cool to say the least.

I recall our guide mentioning something about how they “flush” to river below the dam to clean out some over grown and evasive vegetation. Still makes me wonder about the management of our water ways.

Couple cool pics here don’t even come close to doing it justice. Our adventure is worthy of its own thread (maybe in 2 more weeks).



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Cool pics indeed, thanks for posting.

 

[LHC Kirby]

I remember an article just couple years ago how they added others to the water distribution list even though we were in drought & remember thinking how stupid that was. I did a quick Google search but only see recent shit, probably only stuff they want us to see.

Some stuff can be found on DuckDuckGo if google does not bring it up. Recent study said 97% of people don't go past page 1 of google results. I guess I'm not normal, I go to at least page 3 or more depending on my interest and results.

 

[MSum661]

Here, does this make you feel better. And saying LOL, really?? Adults are in the room.

Interior Department Initiates Significant Action to Protect Colorado River System | U.S. Department of the Interior

Interior today announced expedited steps to prepare new measures that are needed to improve and protect the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System.

www.doi.gov

Looks real to me

 

[jet496]

While visiting Lake Powell last July, we went on a raft excursion for the day. It was pretty cool to say the least.

I recall our guide mentioning something about how they “flush” the river below the dam to clean out some over grown and evasive vegetation. Still makes me wonder about the management of our water ways.

Couple cool pics here don’t even come close to doing it justice. Our adventure is worthy of its own thread (maybe in 2 more weeks).



View attachment 1168037

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We used to go up inside there, gassing up at Temple & taking 4 or 5 gas cans as well. Gods country for sure. I remember when they did a flush about 20 years or so ago to flush the canyon sides. It was close to full pool a lot back then. Glad we took advantage of it.

 

[Racey]

I never know what to make of these annual notices, but got this one a couple months ago. We have a few acre ft of water rights so not a major user. During the Covid time they really did dump 20,000 + CFS for months and months on end creating the current lake levels upstream. It seems scaled way back now .
View attachment 1167817 View attachment 1167818 View attachment 1167819 View attachment 1167820

Exactly, California is the last to lose any water as they were the first to secure their allotment, were a strategic investment that needed to be secured to maintain population in the west, and funded portions of the construction of the Hoover Dam infrastructure.

 

[Racey]

While visiting Lake Powell last July, we went on a raft excursion for the day. It was pretty cool to say the least.

I recall our guide mentioning something about how they “flush” the river below the dam to clean out some over grown and evasive vegetation. Still makes me wonder about the management of our water ways.

Couple cool pics here don’t even come close to doing it justice. Our adventure is worthy of its own thread (maybe in 2 more weeks).



View attachment 1168037

View attachment 1168039
View attachment 1168038

When they "Flush" the grand canyon below powell they just transfer balance from Powell to Mead, that water isn't "wasted", it is just moved into Mead, which will eventually release it either way to the downstream customers on schedule.

 

[Echo Lodge]

The Arizona Republic: Lake Mead's water problem, summed up in a single chart.

What's wrong with Lake Mead, summed up in a single chart

A single chart sums up where Lake Mead is headed in 2023 and 2024 if we keep the status quo. And it's nowhere good.

www.azcentral.com

Looking ugly for Mead!

 

[spectra3279]

The Arizona Republic: Lake Mead's water problem, summed up in a single chart.

What's wrong with Lake Mead, summed up in a single chart

A single chart sums up where Lake Mead is headed in 2023 and 2024 if we keep the status quo. And it's nowhere good.

www.azcentral.com

Looking ugly for Mead!

Paywall

 

[Echo Lodge]

Paywall

The Best Free Way to Get Around a Paywall to Read an Article (and a Few More Methods to Try)

You should always pay to support journalism when you can—but when you've lost your password or just need to get around a paywall quickly, there are a few methods you can try to do it. My favorite one is Archive.today.

lifehacker.com

What's wrong with Lake Mead, summed up in a single chart

A single chart sums up where Lake Mead is headed in 2023 and 2024 if we keep the status quo. And it's nowhere good.

www.yahoo.com

What's wrong with Lake Mead, summed up in a single chart
Opinion: A single chart sums up where Lake Mead is headed in 2023 and 2024 if we keep the status quo. And it's nowhere good.
Joanna Allhands
Arizona Republic

If there were a single chart that could sum up the problem at Lake Mead, this might be a contender:

A chart presented to the Arizona Reconsultation Committee models three potential inflow futures at Lake Mead.
OK, maybe not. Because a single chart should be self-explanatory.

This one requires some background.

But it says a lot about where we’re headed. And the shifting goalposts on the way down.

The solution: Tank Mead to save Powell
Lake Mead, the reservoir that stores Colorado River water for Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico, is located near Bolder City, Nev.
Lake Mead relies on inflow – mostly, water released from the upstream Lake Powell.

Until recently, Lake Mead typically would get at least 8.23 million acre-feet of water annually from Lake Powell – enough to cover the state of Maryland in more than a foot of water.

We began this year expecting to get a lower 7.48 million acre-feet release from Lake Powell. But the federal Bureau of Reclamation, for the first time, trimmed that mid-year to 7 million acre-feet because of how dangerously close Powell was to something called “minimum power pool.”

That’s the point where water is too low to flow through eight hydroelectric turbines and instead must flow through four smaller tubes at the base of the dam – tiny tubes, in comparison, that were never designed to flow millions of acre-feet of water, especially over time.

If anything were to fail – which bureau engineers are seriously worried about – it would vastly decrease the amount of water that could flow to Mead.

And that would tank Mead in a heartbeat, because significantly more water already flows out of Lake Mead to users than flows into it from upstream.

Even the best-case scenario isn't great
If we want water to keep flowing out of Powell to Mead, so it doesn’t tank Mead, we may have to cut even more deeply how much water flows to Mead from Powell … which also could tank Mead.

That brings us back to the chart, presented to the Arizona Reconsultation Committee during a meeting in which delegates discussed how the state should respond to this mess.

It shows three possible inflow futures:

A highlighted part of the chart presented to the Arizona Reconsultation Committee, showing three potential inflow futures at Lake Mead.
The blue and red lines model what might happen if Lake Mead were to get 7 million acre-feet, plus varying inflows from the tributaries downstream of Powell.

You might call the blue line the best-case scenario, given the kind of runoff we’re forecast to get this winter. The red line may be closer to what’s most likely to happen, given how the 24-month studies off which these lines are based have played out in recent years.

Note that even in the best-case scenario, Lake Mead still drops below 1,020 feet of elevation by mid-2024 (more on the significance of that in a second).

The worst case puts us just above 'dead pool'
The green line, meanwhile, models what happens if Mead only gets 5.5 million acre-feet from Powell in 2023, plus a comparably “better” 6.5 million acre-feet in 2024.

Reclamation is studying such a scenario because our previous efforts to avoid that dangerous “minimum power pool” mark on Powell haven’t been enough to last.

A 5.5 million acre-feet release would plunge Lake Mead to just above 960 feet of elevation in 2024 – a mere 65 feet above “dead pool,” the point at which water could no longer flow past Hoover Dam.

That’s not much of a buffer, considering that 1,020 feet of elevation has long been the red line that Lake Mead simply could not cross. Interventions were modeled and actions were taken (including the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan) in hopes of avoiding this line.

That’s because many considered 1,020 feet the last buffer against a system crash. Fall below that point, the warning went, and the lake would never recover.

Yet all three forecasts suggest that if we don’t agree to cut more use – and a lot of it – we’ll cross that once-uncrossable line by the end of next year.

No matter what, we'll all use less water
It’s still possible to stall Lake Mead’s decline at around 1,020 feet.

Federal modeling suggests that if inflow is similar in 2023 to what we got in 2022, we’ll need to stop using an additional 2.5 million acre-feet of water, over and above the cuts to which we’ve already agreed, to stop Lake Mead from plunging past 1,020 feet.

Mind you, even if states somehow find (or Reclamation forces) 2 to 4 million acre-feet in cuts, a target based on that analysis, that simply keeps Lake Mead and Lake Powell from going any lower.

 

[cofooter]

Two weeks ago in Parker it seemed like low water Thursday every day. Could not launch at some ramps in the AM. And others you were at the end of the concrete. My sister who has a place in Bluewater said the Indians told the residents to expect low water flows for the next three years below Headgate Dam. Last year, they tanked two smaller lakes above Powell just to keep the system operational through 2022. Thats not going to be much of an option going forward. There are not a lot of knobs left to turn. The government is stepping in to mandate water cuts because the 7 states are doing nothing on their own. Its a grim picture. Pray for 5 or 6 heavy snowpack years.

 

[Echo Lodge]

Yup, low water Thursdays will be the norm every day. Rode the standups to the dam last Sunday. You can walk across from Bat Rock to the island, which is now a peninsula, on the AZ side.