The lower basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California have created a drought contingency plan while the upper basin states including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming have a different drought contingency plan.
These two plans fall under a companion agreement between the upper and lower basin states as well as federal legislation signed into law earlier this year.
The key component of these agreements is to keep water levels in Lake Powell from dropping below 3,525 feet in elevation and to keep water levels in Lake Mead above 1,090 feet in elevation.
The upper basin states will be responsible for maintaining the levels in Lake Powell.
The San Juan Water Commission learned about the drought contingency plan during a meeting on Aug. 7 in Farmington.
Here are three things New Mexico residents should know about the Drought Contingency Plan:
The outflow at the bottom of Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico. Photo: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
1. Navajo Lake is a key component
…New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission Lawyer Dominique Work said the first step will be to look at operations at Lake Powell to determine if less water could be released. If that does not work, the response plan will look at different storage reservoirs — Flaming Gorge, Aspinall and Navajo Lake.
All three reservoirs can release water into rivers that eventually flow into Lake Powell.
One of those three storage reservoirs could be chosen to release water to keep the levels at Lake Powell above 3,525 feet…
How much electricity the turbines in the bowels of Glen Canyon Dam can generate depends upon how much water is delivered from the Wind River Range of Wyoming and the high mountains of Colorado into Lake Powell. Photo/Bureau of Reclamation.
2. The 3,525 feet water level was chosen for hydropower generation
Lake Powell produces hydropower that provides electricity to utilities in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the hydropower plant at Glen Canyon Dam produces about five billion kilowatt hours of power each year.
Electric utilities in Farmington and Aztec both receive power from Lake Powell.
If the lake levels drop below 3,490 feet, the hydropower plant cannot work…
Hay fields under Meeker Ditch 2. Photo credit: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
3. Plan also allows upper basin states to place water in storage
Another key aspect of the plan is it allows the upper basin states to develop a plan to store up to 500,000 acre-feet of additional water in Navajo Lake, Flaming Gorge and Aspinall. This water would be released if needed to fulfill Colorado River Compact requirements…
However, the 500,000 acre-feet of water must come from water rights that would otherwise have been used if it had not been put into storage. For example, a farmer could choose to put an acre-foot of water into storage and let their field go fallow.
The upper basin states must develop a demand management program before they can begin putting water in storage in the reservoirs.
