Lake Powell Drops to Lowest Level Ever Recorded
The record low leaves the reservoir about 30 feet above the point where Glen Canyon Dam turbines stop producing power, officials said.
- On Saturday, Lake Powell dropped to 3,519.91 feet above sea level, breaking its previous record low of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
- Persistent overuse combined with a record-dry winter and rising temperatures have depleted the Colorado River Basin's storage, leaving both Lake Powell and Lake Mead at historic lows.
- Lake Powell now sits roughly 30 feet above the 3,490-foot 'minimum power pool' threshold, where Glen Canyon Dam's turbines would stop generating electricity for nearly 500,000 households.
- Federal water managers proposed a 10-year management plan requiring Arizona, California, and Nevada to cut water usage by 20% by 2028 to stabilize the Colorado River system.
- "We are in uncharted territory," said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, warning that even record snowpack cannot reverse long-term declines without significant policy changes.
133 Articles
133 Articles
The water level in the two largest reservoirs in the United States has fallen dramatically, which could soon affect drinking water supply, electricity prices and agriculture.
Their water levels are now just above the threshold from which electricity production would be affected.
Lakes Powell and Mead, the largest reservoirs in the country, are drying up, which is adding to the Colorado River system, which provides water and electricity to millions of people, in a state of crisis without a solution being glimpsed. On Saturday, the water level at Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border, reached a historic minimum. Lake Mead, the largest of the two and the furthest downstream river on the Colorado River, had recorded its l…
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