Lake Powell officials take unprecedented, emergency steps to delay water releases as level plummets

As Lake Powell runs out of water, the federal government is taking unprecedented steps to buy the reservoir and its hydropower more time

The measures are intended to buy the surrounding communities more time to plan for the very real possibility the reservoir, the country's second-largest, will soon run out of water and the ability to produce hydropower amid the West's climate change-driven megadrought.

The first step is releasing more water from upstream on the Colorado River this year. The second is water will be held back in Lake Powell itself, instead of being sent to downstream states.The US Bureau of Reclamation expects the dual actions will boost Lake Powell by nearly 1 million acre-feet of water. The reservoir contained about 5.8 million acre-feet of water as of Tuesday, according to the bureau, though its full capacity is around 25 million acre-feet.

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