The federal agency that regulates water in Lake Powell warns that it may have to limit downstream water flow, affecting drinking water in Arizona and other western states.
Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science for the U.S. Department of the Interior, wrote governors’ offices of seven states about the continually falling water level in Lake Powell.
The reservoir is one along the Colorado River Basin and supplies millions with not only a source of freshwater but also electricity from the hydroelectric plant at the Glen Canyon dam. Currently, water levels sit at 3,522’ mean sea level (msl) but continue to fall, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation data.
Should the water level drop below 3,490 feet msl, Trujillo warned the governors that the shortage would affect both water flow downriver and power generation at the large power facility.