Agency cites hydropower concerns under strained river conditions
Federal officials said Thursday they will not release cool water this year from one of the Colorado River’s major reservoirs. The decision gives up a measure that would have protected a threatened native fish downstream but that would have added strain on hydropower that already is struggling.
In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the Bureau of Reclamation told various groups that cool water from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona would not be released “due to significant hydropower generation concerns under already strained system conditions.”
The announcement comes as climate change and overuse shrink the river and its reservoirs, leaving officials to weigh competing demands between protecting native species and maintaining hydropower production.
The Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to farmers, industries and wildlife and serves more than 40 million people in seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico, recorded its worst snowpack on record. The decision also comes a week after federal officials announced a proposal to stave off a crisis in the river system.