Water Woes XLVII USBR Kicks The Can
- Mark L. Johnson
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Weekly Hydrologic Update (8/2/26) shown above indicates Lake Powell is 23% full, Lake Mead is 27% full and the Colorado River System as a whole is at 32% capacity. This is the lowest capacity in 70 years!
Not only is this a water supply emergency but also a power supply emergency. Lake Powell is only 22' from Minimum Power Pool Elevation-Adjusted (3,500') and Lake Mead is only 6' from Minimum Power Pool Elevation (1,035'). Minimum Power Pool is the elevation whereby hydroelectic power generation will stop. Hydroelectric power generated at Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell) serves about 5 million people in 6 western states including Arizona. Nineteen percent (19%) of the power generationa at Hoover Dam (Lake Mead) goes to Arizona. This is double-trouble!
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIR)-Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead
The above captioned FEIR was released by USBR on Friday (7/31/26). The Executive Summary is available for download at the link below. USBR was supposed to come up with a 20-year plan to operate the Colorado River System but instead they issued a 10-year plan that is implemented in two-year batches and severely penalizes the Lower Basin States. This, despite the extremely poor water supply situation described above.
The new plan is very complicated and difficult to summarize but here is what I get from it:
Lake Mead (Lower Basin States)
Shortages-up to 3.6 million acre-feet per year (maf)
Shortages 2027 & 2028-1.5 maf based on Lower Basin States agreement and beyond 1.5 maf based on Priority
Lake Mead after 2028-shortages based on Priority unless another agreement between Lower Basin States
Storage of Non-System Water-up to 7 maf
Lake Powell (Upper Basin States)
Lake Powell Releases-5 to 12 maf-based on elevation and other factors
Lake Powell Storage of Non-System Water-up to 3 maf
Upper Basin States can voluntarily contribute up to 200,000 af
There is no question that the Lower Basin States got the short end of the stick on this deal and it appears that lawsuits are being planned.
This could have all been avoided if USBR adopted the Tortolita Alliance's (TA's) CUT 20 program whereby all Colorado River Water Supply Allocations are cut 20% across the board to yield a total allocation of 13.0 maf versus the current full alloaction of 16.5 maf. This is within the range (12-13 maf) of the simulated flow (2027-2036) at Lees Ferry which is based on the last 10-year average flow at Lees Ferry (Table ES-4).
Forget the Law of the River and start over with CUT20 or this allocation/law suit conundrum will go on forever.
Take a look at these dizzy graphics for additional pictorial references and see if you can figure it out!
