Click the link to read the article on The Salt Lake Tribune website (Anastasia Hufham). Here’s an excerpt:
December 30, 2023
With below-average precipitation so far this winter, federal officials say that Lake Powell will get 2 million acre-feet less water than they originally thought…Reclamation now says that Lake Powell will receive just 7.6 million acre-feet of water in [Water Year 2024]. That’s 79% of the historical average runoff between 1991 and 2020…
A below-average runoff this year could mean that reservoirs in Colorado and Wyoming would have to release water downstream to keep the lake from hitting levels that would threaten the Glen Canyon Dam’s energy generation and make delivering water to Arizona, California and Nevada nearly impossible. Colorado River water managers have implemented similar emergency measures in recent years to keep Lake Powell from reaching crisis levels. Utah reaches its typical peak snowpack in early April, and the state gets about 95% of its water supply from snow.