Sen. Kelly: More Federal and Multi-State Coordination Needed to Save Lakes Mead, Powell

In the Senate, Kelly has maintained a focus on combating western drought and water issues. In October of 2021,Kelly chaired a hearing he requested on western drought after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued new water level projections for Lake Mead and Lake Powell that triggered the first-ever drought restrictions on the Colorado River.

Kelly was one of the members of the Senate bipartisan group that advanced the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, that was signed into law in November. Kelly played a leadership role in drafting the western water and drinking water portions of the law.   

To watch Kelly’s full remarks, click HERE.

For a transcript of his remarks and exchange with the witness, see below: 

Kelly: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. This issue of hydropower is critical to our state but, as we all realize, as Senator Cortez-Masto spoke about, drought in the West, this 22-year drought that we’ve been experiencing, is connected with our ability to generate electricity, especially at the Hoover Dam.  

So, Commissioner Touton, I wanted to follow up on the line of questioning that my colleague from Nevada had about the 500+ Plan that was finalized last month as you and we all realize, this plan is going to help water users in Arizona, Nevada and California conserve about a million acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through 2023, 500,000 acre-feet in 2022 and then again the following year. That’s a lot of water, but it’s not enough to prevent future drought restrictions. But, it does buy some important time to deploy some more mitigation measures.   

And this matters because as the Senator from Nevada spoke about, Lake Mead is home to the Hoover Dam, which produces electricity for millions of people in Arizona and across the Southwest. Right now, as of today if we were to check, I think the water level in Lake Mead is about 1,066 feet, but it’s going down. If levels fall below 950 feet above sea level, the dam will stop generating electricity. That’s about 116 feet from where it is today.  

So, Ms. Touton, how soon does Reclamation estimate that Lake Mead could reach this deadpool elevation, which is in the neighborhood of 800 and something feet, so the dam stops generating electricity at 950 but at 850 or so I think we wind up with deadpool and can’t get any more water out of it. Do you have estimates for when those two things will happen?   

Touton: Current modeling does not project Lake Mead to decline to deadpool as you mentioned, Senator, within the next 5 years. And we see there is a 3% chance that Lake Mead will decline to minimum power pool as early as 2026. That’s certainly not to say that 1,066 is not a scary number for us, it’s certainly within the capacity of Lake Mead, you know that’s about 34% of capacity. So were at historically low levels at Lake Mead now. 

Kelly: Earlier you mentioned that the Drought Contingency Plan, there’s funding from that, but there’s also funding in the bipartisan infrastructure bill for the 500+ Plan.  How much money can we use out of the bipartisan infrastructure bill at this point for the 500+ Plan?   

Touton: Thanks to Congress, we were able to, within our FY21 Reprogramming and supplemental funding, for FY22 have cash on hand for $50 million of the $100 million for the 500+ Plan. So we are ready to work on that portion of it. We are currently finalizing our spend plan Senator, it is in review with the highest levels of the federal government hopefully to get to you soon, but the $250 million there for the Lower Basin certainly will be one of the areas that we look for for the additional $50 million for the 500+ Plan, which then leaves another $200 million for work within the basin.  

Kelly: And I want to talk a second since my colleague from Colorado just arrived. Are Upper Basin states contributing resources in amounts similar to the 500+ Plan?  

Touton: We’re currently working with our partners in the Upper Basin states, we just, we Reclamation, just announced changes in releases from Lake Powell throughout the year to be able to continue to protect levels at Powell and we certainly need resources in hand to work with partners in the Upper Basin states when they’re ready.  

Kelly: Well, thank you, Commissioner, this is a critical issue not just for Lower Basin states, for Upper Basin states, for the entire Southwest, but for the country in fact. This time of year especially, a large percentage, nearly all of the green leaf vegetables that people eat across the country come from the state Arizona, from the Lower Basin, that water that comes from the Colorado River, is critical for farmers to be able to grow that portion of our food supply, so I encourage you and the Secretary to continue to lean a little bit on the Upper Basin and all Colorado River states to work together on this critical issue.