Colorado River Dams Could Stop Producing Hydropower planetizen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from planetizen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(Photo : Pixabay)
Lake Powell
The latest megadrought prompted a sudden warning in the West. In an effort to keep the second-largest reservoir in the country, Lake Powell, filled with water enough to keep producing hydroelectric power the Bureau of Reclamation started an exigency water release from water storage upstream in the Colorado River this week.
The lake made by man, which is positioned along the essential Colorado River, has gotten to the least levels it s been in decades because of excessive heat and the searing drought that s affected the area together with overuse.
It is predicted that by April 2022 the reservoir will get to a critical new low of 1,075 meters, just 7.6 meters (25 feet) above the level at which hydropower won t be generated. The urgent releases from reservoirs upstream, namely: the Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado, the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, and the Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico - will keep up until December and there is a possibility it
Hydropower worries grow as Colorado River reservoirs continue to dry up azpbs.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from azpbs.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Colorado River is tapped out.
Another dry year has left the watershed that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation s two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time, a shortage is expected to be declared by the federal government, this summer.
The 1,450-mile-long waterway acts as a drinking water supply, a hydroelectric power generator and an irrigator of desert crop fields across seven Western U.S. states and two in Mexico. Scientists are increasingly certain that the only way forward is to rein in demands on the river s water.
Hoover And Glenn Canyon Dams Are Low On Water, Threatening Power Production
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Two of America s biggest hydroelectric generators, Hoover and Glenn Canyon dams, are in danger of reducing output due to historically low water levels.
Transcript
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: The water levels behind the Colorado River s biggest dams are at record lows, and that means the historic drought in Western states will probably start showing up in people s energy bills because those dams can t produce as much electricity. Luke Runyon from member station KUNC has more.
LUKE RUNYON, BYLINE: Standing at the base of Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, the Colorado River flows out of Lake Powell cold and clear. On the canyon walls, moss grows where water from behind the dams seeps slowly through the red sandstone, and the air buzzes with electricity.