Emergency federal plan aims to stabilize Lake Powell amid Colorado River drought

With Lake Powell at about 36% of capacity amid record-low snowpack, the Trump administration announced an emergency plan to avert a power and water shortage on the Colorado River. It will release 660,000 to 1,000,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir over the next year to lift Powell, while reducing Powell’s downstream releases by around 19% (about 1.5 million acre-feet) to push more water toward Lake Mead and downstream users in California, Arizona and Nevada. The move, a short-term fix under a 2019 drought agreement, aims to keep turbines turning and water supplies flowing as negotiations for longer-term cuts stall and drought conditions persist.