Utah’s Drought
Utah is not a lush and humid place with plentiful reserves of water and seasons of heavy rainfall. We are the second driest state in the nation. To look at us, you might think otherwise. Many city municipalities require lawn landscaping of residential properties and by the number of thriving car wash chains here, you’d think water was the least of our problems. But the problem is real and getting worse.
We have been in a serious drought here for some time now. This April, our governor has declared a state of emergency owing to the extreme conditions facing Utah’s water supply. Utah relies on seasonal snow melt filling reservoirs to meet the summer water demands. This means we measure conditions of drought exclusively on surface water availability and reservoir fill. As of April, 22 of our largest reservoirs are below 55% available capacity. Anticipated run-off will in no way correct this situation. Additionally, we are facing a summer predicted to have above normal temperature and below normal precipitation. Our situation is unlikely to improve any time soon.
Perhaps the most troubling of all, is in the south of the state, where Lake Powell, a significant source of water for Utah and neighboring states, is critically low. To put this in perspective properly, the total available reservoir storage for our state is about 33 million acre-feet. The capacity of Lake Powell is 24 million acre-feet, nearly 72% of the state’s total available reservoir capacity. And right now, Powell is at an alarming volume of 5 Million acre-feet.
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Not only is Lake Powell a primary source of water for the state, it shares this water with neighboring states, serving 25 million people. But in addition to its use as a water resource, Glen Canyon Dam, uses the water in Powell to generate electricity for nearly 6 million people. As the water falls, we approach the level where the dam is no longer able to generate electricity. The current predictions suggest that this could happen as soon as January 2023.
The precipitous drop at Lake Powell was far ahead of forecasts. Powell is distinctly V-shaped, meaning at lower levels, the water levels fall faster. The problem is so serious, that it has warranted a federal response. Water from Powell that was intended to be released into Lake Mead to serve communities in Nevada and California was halted. And 500,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge on the Utah-Wyoming border is being released which will eventually make its way to Lake Powell with the goal of continuing to serve customers with power from the dam.
But all of these are contingency measures, made to address the immediacy of need. Looking forward to the future, Utah and the west face an uncertain water future that will require us to shift our mindset about how we use the water we have left.
