Feds order Flaming Gorge drop to save imperiled Lake Powell from potential structural failure

Federal officials formally announced Friday they will draw an extra 660,000 to 1 million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Wyoming-Utah border over the next 12 months to prevent downstream Lake Powell from dropping below “minimum power pool” the point at which it could no longer produce power.

The desperate move is in response to projections that show Lake Powell, “without major intervention,” could drop below 3,490 feet in elevation by August, which would kill hydroelectric generation at Glen Canyon Dam. If it drops even further, the dam is in danger of structural failure.

With extra releases from Flaming Gorge and by reducing flows from Lake Powell by about 1.5 million acre-feet of water through September, the Bureau of Reclamation hopes to prevent such a catastrophe.

“Together, these actions are expected to increase Lake Powell’s elevation by approximately 54 feet to at least [an] elevation [of] 3,500 feet by April 2027,” the agency said in a press release Friday afternoon.

“Given the severity of the risks facing the Colorado River system, it is imperative that we take action quickly to protect a resource that supplies water to 40 million people and supports vital agricultural, hydropower production, tribal, wildlife and recreational uses across the region,” the Bureau of Reclamation’s Assistant Secretary of Water and Science Andrea Travnicek said in a prepared statement.

Nick Gann fishes in Firehole Canyon Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, on the far northeastern shore of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, in Wyoming. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The extra releases at Flaming Gorge, which has a maximum capacity of 3.8 million acre-feet, are in line with recent warnings from Wyoming water officials. Earlier this month, Wyoming Senior Assistant Attorney General Chris Brown braced stakeholders for a release of potentially 1 million acre-feet of water, maybe more.

Still, the draw on the southwest Wyoming reservoir — a popular destination for fishing and other recreation — is sure to cause some pain. Now at about 83% capacity, according to federal estimates, the extra release will drop Flaming Gorge by about 35 feet over the next year.

“Boating access may be reduced earlier in the season than normal,” the bureau said. “In the Grand Canyon, lower flow rates will affect rafting conditions and fishing may be more challenging.”

The bureau noted that it’s not planning to tap other “backup” reservoirs above Lake Powell. It will not draw extra releases from Blue Mesa in Colorado and the Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico due to their already low water levels and forecasted inflows.

But drought response plans are still in flux, the agency warned, and it will exercise “as much operational flexibility as possible.”

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Flaming Gorge also played a vital backup role for Lake Powell in 2023 when Colorado River authorities released an extra 465,000 acre-feet of water.

Wyoming, like other Colorado River headwater states, suffered an historically warm winter along with alarmingly low snowpack in the mountains that feed the Colorado River.

All the while, Wyoming and the other Colorado River Basin states have missed multiple deadlines to agree on a new drought response plan for the system — a situation that portends a tangle of lawsuits and more federal actions that are unlikely to please any of the stakeholders.

“With time running out, there is a need for extraordinary collaboration for 2027 and beyond,” the bureau said.

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