State to get Colorado River water, power

A rainy winter is reaping benefits for Californians, as water from Lake Powell will be released this summer--keeping up generating capacity at Hoover Dam:

Saying winter storms had eased drought conditions somewhat in the Colorado River basin, Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Monday ordered federal dam managers to continue making normal water releases from Lake Powell, one of the West's biggest reservoirs.

Norton's decision settles for now a dispute between the upper and lower basin states over levels in Lake Powell, which collects water from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and northern New Mexico, and its downriver sibling, Lake Mead.

Led by Colorado, the upper basin states wanted the Interior Department to reduce releases from Lake Powell for the first time to slow a dramatic drop in the reservoir's levels. The lower basin states were concerned that if the releases were trimmed and Lake Powell's level increased, it would be at the expense of Lake Mead, which supplies water to Nevada, Arizona and Southern California.

After more than five years of severe drought along the Colorado, Lake Powell is only a third full — the lowest it has been since it was filled after the 1963 construction of Glen Canyon Dam. Lake Mead, by contrast, is 62% full and has been rising after a series of winter storms doused parts of the Southwest.

The upper basin doesn't use water from Lake Powell. Rather, the reservoir operates as a huge holding tank for Lake Mead, ensuring that the upper basin has enough reserves to meet its legal obligation to send a certain amount of water to the lower basin.

As Lake Powell's level has dropped, those reserves have dwindled, threatening hydropower production, hurting recreation businesses and raising the possibility that if the drought continues, Colorado and other states might be forced to make cuts in their water usage in order to give the lower basin its share.

Good news for California energy markets which were already predicted to be tight this summer.