Kyle Dunphey

(Utah News Dispatch) Utah’s reservoirs are still at what the state calls “impressive” levels, with most hovering around 90% capacity — by comparison, statewide levels were a little over half full this time last year.

But Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, is an outlier. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it’s currently at about 35% capacity.

During a Legislative Water Development Commission meeting in Salt Lake City last week, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources Candice Hasenyager gave lawmakers an update on the state’s water outlook.

“Our reservoirs are about full, we’re at about 90% of our statewide average,” she said. But, she noted Lake Powell as a glaring exception.

“That’s still definitely a concern that we have,” Hasenyager told lawmakers.

In a statement, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Lake Powell should not be compared to other reservoirs in the state because of its size and the various policies that dictate its levels.

“Lake Powell is substantially larger, with a live capacity of nearly 25 million acre-feet,” a spokesperson for the bureau said. “This capacity is more than eight times the capacity of Strawberry Reservoir.”

Those levels are often out of the state’s control, and are in part due to the complexity of the Colorado River Basin and the system that allocates water to seven states and Mexico, called the Colorado River Compact.

Through the compact, the bureau “has modified the operating guidelines for Glen Canyon and Hoover dams through 2026, to protect these facilities and lake levels if poor hydrologic conditions persist,” the spokesperson said.

Despite Lake Powell appearing to be far behind Utah’s other reservoirs in terms of capacity, the bureau noted that the situation is much better than last year — currently, it sits at about 24 feet higher than last May, and officials say levels will continue to rise, expected to hit about 41% capacity in June. After that, the bureau said it will decline until spring runoff in 2025.

Still, the state’s lack of control over Lake Powell drew some disapproval from outgoing Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, who is currently running for governor. Lyman, a fierce critic of the federal government’s presence in Utah, lamented the levels being “set by the Secretary of the Interior.”

“Are we working with the Secretary of the Interior, are we working with the federal government to keep that at a viable level?” Lyman asked. “What we’ve really seen is intentional, keeping that below a viable recreation level and I hope the legislature can influence that decision in the future.”

In response to Lyman’s comments, the Bureau of Reclamation pointed to the bevy of compacts, federal laws, court decisions, contracts and regulatory guidelines that control flows in the Colorado River and levels at Lake Powell.

“Reclamation has a long-standing history of working with all stakeholders in the basin on cooperative agreements that help define operational actions at critical times and to protect the levels at Lake Powell and sustain and protect the Colorado River Basin,” the bureau said.

When asked about Lyman’s comments, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded, “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

“People can make up stuff all they want. Nobody is deliberately keeping the water levels low at Lake Powell,” the governor said during his monthly PBS news conference on Thursday, calling his gubernatorial opponent’s claim “bonkers.”

Cox pointed to ongoing negotiations among water managers from Colorado River basin states who are working on a new management plan ahead of 2026, when the current guidelines expire.

Cox told reporters the state has been releasing its own water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to ensure the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell can continue generating power. Some of that water was released to Lake Mead, he said — now, the state is hoping to get that water back.

“There are big discussions about where that water goes and where our portions of the water go. We’ve had huge releases from upstream reservoirs that have gone into Lake Powell,” Cox said. “That’s mostly our water. …These are very, very complex negotiations that are going back and forth, and part of the negotiations and what we’re doing right now is making sure we can restore the water that we released.”

‘Exactly what we need’

On Thursday, the Division of Water Resources said over half of the snow from this winter has melted, with recent weather patterns resulting in “optimal spring runoff.”

“A slow warmup is exactly what we need to have a safe and effective spring runoff,” Hasenyager said in a statement. “We still have a good amount of snow in the mountains, so we are hoping for a gradual snow melt.”

Many people believe Texas is the biggest state, and Hawaii is the smallest. Those people are WRONG! States are measured by their square miles. Have you ever wondered which states are the biggest? Utah ALMOST made the TOP 10 for BIGGEST STATES in the Country!

USA’s TOP 15 BIGGEST STATES (per square miles):

1. Alaska: (586,000 square miles)
2. Texas: (261,232 square miles)
3. California: (155,959 square miles)
4. Montana: (145,552 square miles)
5. New Mexico: (121,298 square miles)
6. Arizona: (113,594 square miles)
7. Nevada: (109,781 square miles)
8. Colorado: (103,641 square miles)
9. Wyoming: (97,093 square miles)
10. Oregon: (95,988 square miles)
11. Idaho: (82,643 square miles)
12. Utah: (82,169 square miles)
13. Kansas: (81,758 square miles)
14. Minnesota: (79,626 square miles)
15. Nebraska: (76,824 square miles)

USA’s TOP 15 SMALLEST STATES (per square miles):

35. Ohio: (40,860 square miles)
36. Virginia: (39,490 square miles)
37. Kentucky: (39,486 square miles)
38. Indiana: (35,826 square miles)
39. Maine: (30,842 square miles)
40. South Carolina: (30,060 square miles) 
41. West Virginia (24,038 square miles) 
42. Maryland: (9,707 square miles)
43. Vermont: (9,216 square miles)
44. New Hampshire: (8,952 square miles) 
45. Massachusetts: (7,800 square miles) 
46. New Jersey: (7,354 square miles)
47. Hawaii: (6,422 square miles)
48. Connecticut: (4,842 square miles)
49. Delaware: (1,948 square miles)
50. Rhode Island: (1,033 square miles)

THE ENTIRE LIST OF THE USA’s STATES RANKED BIGGEST TO SMALLEST (per square miles):

1. Alaska: 586,000 square miles
2. Texas: 261,232 square miles
3. California: 155,959 square miles
4. Montana: 145,552 square miles
5. New Mexico: 121,298 square miles
6. Arizona: 113,594 square miles
7. Nevada: 109,781 square miles
8. Colorado: 103,641 square miles
9. Wyoming: 97,093 square miles
10. Oregon: 95,988 square miles
11. Idaho: 82,643 square miles
12. Utah: 82,169 square miles
13. Kansas: 81,758 square miles
14. Minnesota: 79,626 square miles
15. Nebraska: 76,824 square miles
16. South Dakota: 75,811 square miles
17. North Dakota: 69,000 square miles
18. Missouri: 68,741 square miles
19. Oklahoma: 68,594 square miles
20. Washington: 66,455 square miles
21. Georgia: 57,513 square miles
22. Michigan: 56,538 square miles
23. Iowa: 55,857 square miles
24. Illinois: 55,518 square miles
25. Wisconsin: 54,157 square miles
26. Florida: 53,624 square miles
27. Arkansas: 52,035 square miles
28. Alabama: 50,645 square miles
29. North Carolina: 48,617 square miles
30. New York: 47,126 square miles
31. Mississippi: 46,923 square miles
32. Pennsylvania: 44,742 square miles
33. Louisiana: 43,203 square miles
34. Tennessee: 41,234 square miles
35. Ohio: 40,860 square miles
36. Virginia: 39,490 square miles
37. Kentucky: 39,486 square miles
38. Indiana: 35,826 square miles
39. Maine: 30,842 square miles
40. South Carolina: 30,060 square miles
41. West Virginia 24,038 square miles
42. Maryland: 9,707 square miles
43. Vermont: 9,216 square miles
44. New Hampshire: 8,952 square miles
45. Massachusetts: 7,800 square miles
46. New Jersey: 7,354 square miles
47. Hawaii: 6,422 square miles
48. Connecticut: 4,842 square miles
49. Delaware: 1,948 square miles
50. Rhode Island: 1,033 square miles

One thing that caught my eye was how TINY Rhode Island is… at 1,033 square miles, it’s less than half the size of Washington County! WOW!

Buzz continues to surround the Utah Jazz as we stand just over a month from the kick off the 2024 NBA Draft.

And while the Jazz hold two first-rounders to start the draft at pick 10 and 28, a large chunk of the rumors revolving around Utah have been based on their use of their 32nd pick in the second. USC guard and son of LeBron James, Bronny James, was the most recent guard mentioned to have potential interest from the Jazz, effectively generating some hype surrounding the 19-year-old in coming to SLC.

The report inevitably made for some fun discussions of what possibilities next season could hold for the Jazz, but newly uncovered developments have seemingly brought the Bronny to Utah train to a halt.

Despite some chatter linking the Jazz with James heating up at the combine earlier this week, Sarah Todd of Deseret News reports that those rumors might be a whole lot of nothing.

“I looked into this as much as possible and although James impressed during the combine, it doesn’t seem like the Jazz are interested,” Todd said. “A number of team sources seemed confused about where the Yahoo Sports report had come from, with one source telling the Deseret News that the name Bronny James has never come up in any draft conversations among Jazz decision makers.”

Instead of looking towards the direction of Bronny towards the top of the first, the Jazz will likely turn their direction elsewhere. The USC product came out with a nice combine performance to boost his stock deeper into the second round, but Utah might not be his eventual landing spot.

In the event the Jazz don’t end up finding a prospect that they love at the top of the second, keep an eye out for a trade involving the pick. Danny Ainge remained confident that the team would remain aggressive this summer in a pursuit to improve this squad for next season, and the right move surrounding some picks down the board can effectively bring that.

All draft answers will be delivered for the Jazz when the big night officially arrives on June 26th.

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