Drought

Over the past 22 years, the state has only seen short breaks from drought often followed by longer, more severe drought conditions.

Cuts to water use along the Colorado River could be spread evenly across some southwestern states, or follow the more than a century-old priority system that currently governs water management. Those are two alternatives federal officials are considering to keep hydropower generation going at the nation’s largest reservoirs according to a draft plan released Tuesday.

Six of the seven states that use water from the Colorado River proposed a way for the federal government to cut back on water use and protect dropping water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

Researchers have published an emergency briefing warning that the Great Salt Lake could disappear “as we know it” in the next five years. They’re calling on Utah’s governor, legislature and residents to make drastic changes to reverse the lake’s decline.

As water levels in Lake Powell keep dropping, activists say Glen Canyon Dam is in need of upgrades to its plumbing so it can keep sending water downstream.

If the water level at the country's second-largest reservoir drops about another 30 feet, the Glen Canyon Dam will be unable to create hydroelectric power.

Hager, who covers the Colorado River for KUNC, says the nation’s second largest reservoir is strained by more than two decades of drought.

A new plan will release water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, a measure designed to boost dropping levels in Lake Powell. The releases come as a response to record lows, which are on course to drop too low to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon dam. The Drought Response Operations Plan brings together the four states of the upper Colorado River basin – Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico – and the federal government.

Last year’s dry conditions made it difficult for farmers in southwest Colorado — they’re hoping they can make it through what could be another tough year.

Water from Colorado’s Blue Mesa reservoir was sent to Lake Powell in the summer of 2021. It was an emergency move to help the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. keep producing hydropower.