LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Lake Mead is expected drop drastically in the coming months. The reservoir outside Las Vegas is currently 32% full, so more decline would expose more rocks and hazards — and take us back toward the lowest levels ever recorded.
"Less water is going to be released from Lake Powell down to Lake Mead this year. That is going to result in about a 20-foot decline in Lake Mead's current elevation," said Bronson Mack, spokesperson for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Watch: Climate Reporter Geneva Zoltek explains the latest development for the Colorado River crisis
So, get ready. The infamous bathtub ring circumnavigating the basin is about to get wider, in part due to the lackluster winter recorded across our region and throughout the west.
Here's a look at the latest average snowpack levels:
The Upper Colorado region stands at just 20% of average.
As a result, in a surprise move last week, the Bureau of Reclamation announced it would withhold more water from Lake Powell than previously anticipated. The decision was made to protect operations at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, but will have impacts downstream.
"We've never seen a move like this before from the federal government," said Kyle Roerink, advocate with the Great Basin Water Network. "They can justify this action as a means of protecting that infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam. But then of course, that has major consequences for us in Nevada and in California and in Arizona as well."
Climate projections for the Southwest show a future marked by chronic drought, rising temperatures, and hit-or-miss snowpack.
"One thing that we know for certain is that the future of the Colorado River basin is one that is going to be drier, and it is going to be warmer," Mack said. "That inherently means that there will be years like we just experienced, where the snowpack is minimal at best, but we also anticipate, after hearing from the climatologists, that we will have very wet years, as well. They are just going to be compounded by multiple years of dry conditions."
The Colorado River System isn't just running low on water, it's running low on time.
Negotiations between the seven basin states for how the river will be managed in the next water year — which starts this coming October — have still not been resolved.
"So again, this is really reinforcing the need for us not just to conserve today, but to also continue conserving in a sustained manner going forward, so we can ensure water supplies for our current residents as well as future generations in Southern Nevada," Mack said.
