The West is in a world of hurt this spring, warns writer Jonathan Thompson. We are two and a half decades into the Southwest’s most severe drought of the last 1,200 years, and this winter’s snow dearth is one of the most extreme on record.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s latest forecast says Lake Powell’s surface level is likely to drop below minimum power pool later this year. That would not only cease hydropower production, it would also force the dam’s releases to go through the river outlets, which were not made for sustained use. This could compromise the outlets and the dam itself.
As the spring runoff gets underway, Thompson says, it has become increasingly clear that nature won’t save us: We have no choice but to live within increasingly meager limits.