Friday, March 11, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Water
NRCS: March key to ensuring Idaho
irrigators have suffi cient water
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Lake Powell has dropped to critically low levels.
As drought lingers, Lake Powell
about to drop below critical level
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
SALT LAKE CITY —
Due to an abnormally dry
winter, Lake Powell on the
Colorado River is on the
brink of seeing its water lev-
els temporarily drop below
a critical threshold, threat-
ening water supplies and
hydropower in the region.
The U.S. Bureau of Rec-
lamation announced that
water levels at Lake Pow-
ell will likely fall 2 to 3 feet
beneath the critical target
level of 3,525 feet in eleva-
tion this month due to “a very
dry January and February”
that eroded the Colorado
River Basin’s snowpack.
Last week, Lake Pow-
ell’s water level had already
fallen to 3,526 feet in pool
elevation, just 24% of capac-
ity and nearly at the critical
level.
The agency predicts
water levels in the lake will
recover temporarily later this
spring — most likely in May
— as the runoff season pro-
gresses, but the year’s over-
all outlook remains grim.
“This year, the Colo-
rado River Basin has expe-
rienced extremely variable
conditions with a record
high snowpack one month,
followed by weeks with-
out snow,” said Reclamation
Acting Commissioner David
Palumbo. “This variable
hydrology and a warmer,
drier West have drastically
impacted our operations,
and we are faced with the
urgent need to manage in the
moment.”
Lake Powell and nearby
Lake Mead, the nation’s
largest reservoir, have been
draining at alarming rates
over the past year.
These two reservoirs, fed
by the Colorado River water-
shed, are part of a river sys-
tem that supplies water to
more than 40 million people
across seven Western states
and Mexico. Both reservoirs
provide drinking and irri-
gation water across the vast
region, including to many
farms.
Last year, Arizona Farm
Bureau President Stefanie
Smallhouse expressed her
concern that the impend-
ing water shortage in Lake
Mead would mean some
Central Arizona farmers in
2022 would “lose access to
nearly half of the water on
which they now rely to grow
food and fi ber for Arizona’s
families.”
That prediction is close to
becoming reality, and Pow-
ell is now following Mead
on the trajectory to a serious
water shortage.
Lake Powell’s plunging
water level also threatens the
Glen Canyon Dam’s ability
to produce hydropower.
Water managers have
been working to prevent
worst-case scenarios from
materializing.
According to a state-
ment from Reclamation,
the agency, along with the
Upper Division States and
the Upper Colorado River
Commission, have taken
“proactive” measures to pro-
tect Lake Powell’s target ele-
vation — fi rst, by sending an
additional 161,000 acre-feet
of water from Blue Mesa and
Flaming Gorge reservoirs
to Lake Powell in 2021,
and second, by temporarily
reducing monthly releases
from Glen Canyon Reser-
voir to keep enough water in
the lake.
For now, however, plans
are at a standstill.
“Reclamation is not plan-
ning to take further action to
address this temporary dip
below 3,525 feet because
the spring runoff will resolve
the defi cit in the short term,”
Reclamation Upper Colo-
rado Basin Regional Direc-
tor Wayne Pullan said in a
statement.
However, Pullan said
Lake Powell is projected to
drop below the critical ele-
vation 3,525 feet again later
this year. If that happens,
Pullan said Reclamation will
be poised to take “additional
actions” as needed.
Idaho’s snowpack is pegged at 80-100%
of normal in most of the state, USDA’s Nat-
ural Resources Conservation Service said in
a March 1 report.
But to maintain that level, at least nor-
mal storm activity is needed through March,
NRCS said.
Above-normal rain and snow would be
better everywhere and would especially
benefi t the Boise, Upper Snake and South-
ern Snake river basins.
Big Wood and Big Lost basins in the cen-
tral mountains have good snowpack after
two straight abnormally dry years. They
need a wet spring to ensure adequate irriga-
tion supplies due to low reservoir levels.
Hydrologists are encouraged by the
recent arrival of more active weather, in con-
trast to the high pressure that kept conditions
dry during much of January and February.
They will watch how long this lasts and how
far it extends into the southern region, where
irrigated agriculture dominates.
NRCS said April and May rainfall and
temperature patterns will strongly infl u-
ence runoff effi ciency.
Normal seasonal peak snowpack is
still within reach for Little Wood, Lost,
Salmon and Clearwater river basins as
well as the state’s northern panhandle, said
Daniel Tappa, hydrologist and data collec-
tion offi cer for the NRCS Snow Survey in
Idaho.
“However, the ship has likely sailed on
normal peak snowpack for our lower-el-
evation, southernmost basins, since these
areas typically see peak snowpack in early
March,” he said. Owyhee and Bruneau are
examples.
NRCS said streamfl ow forecasts uni-
formly decreased since the Feb. 1 report.
They call for below-normal fl ows for the
Upper Snake, Southern Snake, Big Wood,
Boise, Payette and Weiser basins.
Tappa said snow telemetry sites did not
show widespread melting through February
and into early March.
But runoff timing is hard to predict
because most of the measurement sites are in
protected terrain like heavily forested areas
or have a northerly aspect, he said. There is
much less data for south- and west-facing
areas where snow may melt earlier.
Drought impacts stretch beyond West
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Last year’s Western and
Northern Plains drought
impacted agricultural markets
beyond regional borders, a
Farm Bureau economist says.
Danny Munch, American
Farm Bureau Federation asso-
ciate economist, said the area
is critical because it is respon-
sible for more than one-third
of the nation’s agricultural
production value. It produces
more than a quarter of the total
U.S value of cattle, 40% of
dairy value and 70% of vege-
table, fruit and nut value.
“Any persistent drought
conditions eat away at your
ability to meet that produc-
tion value,” he said.
For example, in the
West-dominated vegetable,
fruit and nut category, drought
reduces domestic access,
Munch said. Buyers thus must
rely on non-U.S. suppliers
more, and in turn likely pay
more.
The 11 Western states, plus
the Dakotas and Minnesota,
produce more than 57% of
U.S. hay.
“So any reduction in the
ability to produce hay makes
it diffi cult for cattle and dairy
producers across the coun-
try,” Munch said.
The region’s hay produc-
tion value is big enough that
any supply drop would lead
to higher prices across the
U.S., he said.
Demand likely will stay
strong as drought — which
reduced the supply of pub-
lic lands forage as well as
hay — is starting to expand
into Texas, Nebraska and the
Central Plains region.
Munch said the recent
drought was notable in that it
reached areas accustomed to
having reliable water sources,
including parts of Washington,
Oregon and northern Idaho.
Farm Bureau last fall
asked producers in the 14
states about drought-related
concerns they rated preva-
lent or higher. Among the 784
respondents, 87% cited feed
costs, 79% identifi ed remov-
ing animals from rangeland,
74% cited reduced surface
water deliveries and 72% said
they had a prevalent or higher
concern about lower yields.
Other issues identifi ed
as generating prevalent or
higher concern included
increased travel distance
to feed and forage sources,
cited by 71% of responses;
having to sell part of a herd
or fl ock, 66%; increased
groundwater usage, 65%;
needing to haul water to live-
stock, 64%; increased local
restrictions on water use,
50%; and the need to drill
new wells, 47%.
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