'Unprecedented' water levels threatening hydropower generation in the West
The nation's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, is continuing to dry up, placing water supplies and power generation in the West in potentially dire straits.
Lake Powell is an artificial lake in the middle of the Colorado River on the border between Arizona and Utah. Created in 1963 after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the lake has become a critical source of hydropower and water for the West.
Now, for the first time, the water levels at the lake are threatening to dip below 3,525 feet in elevation, a critical elevation marker, with water levels dropping a full 45 feet in the past year.
"[The critical elevation] provides 35 feet of buffer before we reach our minimum power pool elevation where Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate hydropower, " said Heather Patno, a hydrologic engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/unprecedented-water-levels-threatening-hydropower-generation-in-the-west/ar-AAUTMFJ