Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, is shrinking faster than expected. Located on the Utah-Arizona border, it now holds only about 5.6 million acre-feet of water, less than a quarter of its capacity. The spring snowmelt that should have refilled it never arrived.
According to the NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, Lake Powell will receive just 13% of its average spring inflow. If this forecast is correct, it will be the lowest spring runoff ever recorded for the reservoir, worse than the previous record set in 2002.
The problem began with a terrible winter. Snow across the mountains of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado measured around 30% of normal. Utah's April snowpack was the lowest since measurements began nearly a century ago. Then, record-warm temperatures in March melted the little snow that had accumulated before it could feed the rivers in summer.
The Colorado River depends on melted snow and serves roughly 40 million people across seven U.S. states. Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1963, created Lake Powell and generates electricity through hydroelectric turbines. These turbines cannot operate if water levels fall below a certain threshold. In late April, the reservoir was dangerously close to this minimum level.
Federal officials announced emergency measures to prevent a crisis. They will release water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir and reduce releases from Lake Powell to help keep the system functioning. However, this could reduce hydropower capacity at downstream Hoover Dam by up to 40%. The Colorado River Basin has experienced drought for roughly 25 years, and scientists now consider this a new climate baseline rather than a temporary problem.