Water concerns
- artgeis
- Aug 3
- 2 min read
Future Water for Millions
I’ve been researching likely future climate conditions for my upcoming novel, The Martian Solution, the sequel to The Rocket Scientist. I came across a current situation that is frequently in the news, but I didn’t know much about it. This is a very brief overview about a current serious situation.
The declining water level at Lake Powell has become one of the most serious infrastructure and water security challenges facing the United States. The reservoir is currently 24% full. Unregulated inflow volume in June 2026 was 12% of average, and the August water level was 3522 feet.
Forecasts from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation indicate that continued below-average runoff could push the lake dangerously close to the 3,490-foot minimum power pool over the next two to three years unless wetter conditions return or additional emergency measures are taken. At that elevation, Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate hydroelectric power, approximately 5 billion kilowatt hours for customers in the Southwest. (US Bureau of Reclamation; July 17, 2026 https://www.usbr.gov/uc/water/crsp/cs/gcd.html?utm )
But the biggest danger is not the loss of electricity production. Lake Powell and its Glen Canyon Dam’s primary role is to store and regulate water flow into Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. By capturing Rocky Mountain snowmelt in Lake Powell and releasing it throughout the year, the dam helps satisfy interstate water agreements. These agreements provide water for 2.5 million acres of irrigated farmland and 25 million people in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
The current outlooks from NOAA, the National Weather Service's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC), and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation all point in the same direction:
The Colorado River Basin is expected to remain under long-term drought stress. While individual winters may bring temporary improvements, none of the agencies project a return to the wet conditions needed to refill Lake Powell and Lake Mead in the foreseeable future.
Federal officials released a plan on July 31 that will lean heavily on curtailing deliveries from Lake Mead to downstream users. The plan allows for cuts of up to 3 million acre-feet a year among the states in the river’s Lower Basin — Arizona, California and Nevada. For comparison, 3 million acre-feet of water is approximately 977 billion gallons, which, using national averages, is the amount of water 8.9 million households consume in a year.
There is still
much negotiating left to do among the seven states that use the Colorado River. However, criticisms from state elected officials and non-profit organizations have said the plan is more about ‘hanging on’ to keep Lake Powell and Lake Mead functional than figuring out how to maintain a reliable water supply for the Colorado River’s 40 million users.
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