Because the 2022 operations were designed to protect critical elevations at Lake Powell, Reclamation will implement Lower Elevation Balancing Tier operations in a way that continues to protect these critical elevations, or preserves the benefits of the 2022 operations to protect Lake Powell, in water year 2023 and 2024. Previous Bureau of Recreation (BOR) projections anticipated this lake level drop happening in May, but the most recent projections suggest it will occur sooner. The drought that has scorched the region containing Lake Mead has meant that the reservoir has not refilled as quickly as the water is being used. There might actually be some archaeological relics, Green said, adding that a nearby museum has artifacts from the Puebloan people, who lived in the area about a thousand years earlier. The lake is now at 28 percent its usual capacity, while during the . The Washburn fire, in the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, was first reported on July 7 and doubled in size over the weekend to 2,340 acres (946 hectares), according to a park report. That projection is about 12 feet higher than the 2023 end-of-year mark in the bureau's forecast from December. Water levels in Lake Mead reached the lowest they have ever been last July, at 1,040.8 feet. ), they also limit the amount of groundwater that is stored within the landscape," Daniella Rempe, a hydrologist and geomorphologist at the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas in Austin, previously told Newsweek. Five-Year Probabilistic Projections of future conditions in the Colorado River system currently extend through 2026. ", "There's been a good start to the snowfall season, but it is way too early to know what runoff will look like. But the recent projections show it will take a lot more than rainfall to change the dire outlook for the lake. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much The legal framework is really complicated, but it's urgent to change it right now before the risk increases and there's no water for everyone and everything dependent on water from Lake Meadfarms, birds, major cities, really all life in the Southwest.". He also cautioned that the Pacific Ocean is heading into its third La Nina year in a row, which is a very rare event. La Nina, defined by cooler-than-average water in the equatorial Pacific, has a strong influence on weather in the US West. Granted, there is a chance, albeit a diminishing one, that we could narrowly avoid a Tier 2B declaration. It is now at its lowest level since the lake was being filled in 1937. It would take several years of much-above average snowpack (unlikely given the warming temperatures), combined with drastically less water usage to let Lake Mead begin to fill again.". To help RVers explore these lands and destinations, the National Parks Traveler editors and writers have sifted through the National Park System and come away with the definitive RVing guide to the parks. The reduction of releases from Lake Powell from 7.48 maf to 7.00 maf in WY 2022 resulted in a reduced release volume of 0.480 maf that normally would have been released from Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead as part of the 7.48 maf annual release volume, consistent with routine operations under the 2007 Interim Guidelines. These lake-wide averages are based on a select set of U.S. and Canadian station data as determined by the Coordinating Committee. The Las Vegas region cut per-person use by 47% between 2002 and 2020, to about 112 gallons, while its population grew by 52%. Lake Mead has been slowly rising now at 1,046.3 feet and is now about 5.5 feet above where it was near the end of July (1,040.6 feet). The latest report from the US Bureau of Reclamation shows Lake Mead at just over 1,040 feet above sea level in July, having dropped nearly 10 feet in just two months, and is currently at just. The NPS recognizes the important role that launch ramps and marinas play in the economies of gateway communities and the numerous businesses that operate in the parks, and robust civic and stakeholder engagement will be a part of longer-term planning. The state saw a particularly wet monsoon season at the end of July and into August, meaning the river filled slightly. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the U.S., formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. At that point, hydropower couldno longer be generated and any water that flows to Mead would then have tosqueezethrough four smaller tubes that were not designed to handle those volumes, especially over an extended period. "Lake Mead's water levels have been . Current conditions data typically are recorded at 15-60 minute intervals, stored onsite, and then transmitted to the Nevada Water Science Center Office hourly. Hemenway Harbor will operate on one lane of concrete; pipe mat extension will be installed at 1,064 feet elevation. The reservoirs forecasts are also now accounting for the falling water level and the governments emergency actions at Lake Powell, Meads upstream neighbor and the countrys second-largest reservoir. But the Lake's water levels have risen slightly recently, from 1,044 feet at the end of 2022, to 1,045 feet at the beginning of 2023. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? On February 1 in 2022 and 2021, respectively, the water levels were at 1,067.14 and 1,086.1 feet above sea level. And Lake Mead's water levels are currently 0.3 percent higher than originally predicted in December, the Bureau of Reclamation said, according to a News Now report. Echo Bay will operate on two lanes of concrete; one lane of pipe mat extension will be installed at 1,060 feet elevation. Additionally, if too much rain comes at once, or too much snowpack melts at once due to higher temperatures, it risks running off into the ocean rather than refilling aquifers where we need it. The latest report from the US Bureau of Reclamation shows Lake Mead at just over 1,040 feet above sea level in July, having dropped nearly 10 feet in just two months, and is currently at just 27% of its maximum capacity. Lake Mead's water levels have risen slightly from 1,042.97 feet at the beginning of December, to 1,045.80 feet as of January 19. A grueling drought in the American west has depleted the lake, a crucial water source for 25 million people, drying out tributaries, threatening hydropower production and closing boat ramps at the popular recreation site. Let us know via science@newsweek.com. And what happens upstream is of critical importance to Lake Mead. A crashed B-29 plane has been in the water since 1948. The current water elevation for end of March is 1,063.11 feet. To be notified when updated projections are available, please email ColoradoRiverModeling@usbr.gov with Add Me as the subject. Inside were the remains of a man who officials say was shot between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s. The sudden rainfall which has swept the region has even changed Nevada's drought status, which usually remains pretty static. The drought in the Western U.S. has been ongoing for two decades. One year after that, in September 2023, it suggests Lake Mead will be 26 feet lower than its current level just 19% of the lakes full capacity and a level that would trigger the most severe water cuts for the Southwest. Even a few really wet years probably wouldn't refill the reservoirs, given how low they are and how temperatures continue to rise (causing more evapotranspiration)," Koebele said. Boaters are being advised to check the status of their preferred launch destination(s) on theparks websiteand consider planning their trips to avoid high-traffic times. Officials are focused on the wrong problem, advocates say. The May forecast also includes about half of the water needed to carry out the 500-plus plan, which was supposed to keep Lake Mead just above its last major defense point of 1,020 feet if we voluntarily saved 500,000 acre-feet of water, over and above whatever mandatory cuts we must make based on the level of shortage the lake has reached, each year for five years. "A few big winter storms aren't going to fix the Colorado River Basin's crisis. Its a point we want to avoid (that is, if we can). REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. On December 1, 2022, the lake's water levels were 1,042.97 feet above sea level, while as of February 1, 2023, they measured 1,046.99 feet. Discovery Company. All modeling assumptions and projections are subject to varying degrees of uncertainty. Despite the lackluster outlook for Lake Mead's water levels, the drought status of California, Nevada and Arizona has been alleviated significantly by the recent rainfall. The reduction of releases from Lake Powell from 7.48 maf to 7.00 maf in water year 2022 will result in a reduced release volume of 0.480 maf that normally would have been released from Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead as part of the 7.48 maf annual release volume, consistent with routine operations under the 2007 Interim Guidelines. The forecast is grim the Colorado River has endured a drought for two decades and officials project Lake Meads water levels will continue to fall, meaning that more discoveries will be unearthed. , Projections at Lake Mead show there is a chance as high as 66% that water levels will decline to 1,025 feet by 2025, triggering a Tier 3 Shortage. In a sign of how bad the water crisis has gotten for the Southwest, Lake Mead is already running well below what last years projections suggested, even in its worst-case scenario. The lake is now at 28 percent its usual capacity, while during the summer it was only at 27 percent. It has also lead to the discovery of many things, including a decades-old gunshot victim in a barrel, sunken boats and more recently, a World War II-era vessel. National Parks Traveler was formed in the state of Utah for the purpose of informing and educating about national parks and protected areas. The May numbers reflect thewater that was intended for Lake Mead but left inLake Powell to help keep it above an elevation of 3,490 feet. If thats the case, there could be a mounting discrepancy between actual lake levels and what were doing to protect them, which wont serve us well in the long run. At the beginning of 2022, the lake's water levels were at 1,066 feet. These projections rely on future hydrology from the CBRFCs ESP method and may not be representative of the full range of future possibilities that could occur; other hydrology methods may result in a wider range of future hydrology and elevations. This means that the most probable 24-month study should be considered to have a wet or optimistic bias, Kuhn told CNN, which suggests that its likely the actual levels will run a bit below what the bureau is predicting. Its still far below the surface, but as the water levels fall light is reaching the plane for the first time in decades, 8NewsNow reported. 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