From the USBR Website: "This April 2017 24-Month Study establishes that Lake Powell operations will shift to “balancing releases” for the remainder of water year 2017. Under Balancing, the contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead will be balanced by the end of the water year, but not more than 9.0 maf and not less than 8.23 maf shall be released from Lake Powell. Based on the most probable inflow forecast, this April 24-Month Study projects a balancing release of 9.0 maf in water year 2017; the actual release in water year 2017, however, will depend on hydrology in the remainder of water year and will range from 8.23 to 9.0 maf." Seems that the reporter is potentially both right and wrong, the release from Powell should be above releases from recent years, but absolutely will not exceed 9.0 maf, and may be less depending on conditions between now and September. I grew up on a pinto bean farm in Southeastern Utah, and you just never know what summer will bring, if we did there would be a lot more farmers(and we wouldn't drive junk).
