Lake Mead Water Level Now Three Feet Above First Mandatory Cutback Level - Next Estimate Due 8/17

[hatrack]

With Lake Mead's elevation hovering just three feet above a critical threshold that would trigger mandatory cuts in water supplies, Colorado River watchers are anxiously awaiting new projections from the Bureau of Reclamation due out Monday that will guide operations on the drought-stricken system for the next year.

Although the Bureau of Reclamation releases updated projections for the river each month, the August study is the most important, providing data that will help determine how much water is discharged from the upstream Lake Powell reservoir into Lake Mead during the following year. "It provides water managers and users of the Colorado River some certainty in understanding and anticipating how river operations might affect lake levels," said Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Bronson Mack, who added that the information helps his agency react to changes in water quality.

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Current projections show that Lake Mead's elevation — which currently sits at 1,078 feet — will dip below 1,075 feet as soon as April, but water restrictions won't be enacted unless the reservoir is below that level starting in January of a given year. "In all likelihood, it's a matter of when, not if," Wockner said, despite conservation measures enacted in California and other Western states. "No one's making new water. They're just re-apportioning the water they're already taking out of the system."

Western states agreed to a system of mandatory cuts of Colorado River water use in 2007. Were the level to dip below 1,075 feet, Las Vegas would lose about 4.5 percent of its annual allocation of 300,000 acre-feet (one acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons, roughly the amount that two Las Vegas homes use in a year). Arizona would face an 11.5 percent cut to its supply. Because Las Vegas currently does not use its full allocation of river water, if mandatory cuts were triggered, residents would not feel the effects immediately.

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http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/aug/14/lake-mead-water-level-estimates-due-monday/

[OnlinePoker]

1. Here's a good site to see the daily elevation levels and water releases

http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/levels.html

[hatrack]

2. Thank you! The place I usually go for GC water levels hasn't updated since 7/29

[OnlinePoker]

3. Probably the same place I go, Water-Data.com

Their Lake Mead page hasn't updated since July 9. I don't know if they're on vacation or just stopped working on the page. It would be too bad if they stopped because it's a great resource.

[hatrack]

4. That's the site . . . .

As hot as it's been out west, couldn't blame them for being out on a lake or river.

Too bad, though - good information.