ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — Fire conditions remain critical, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir pool elevation level is currently at just over 6,000 feet.

At the Sweetwater County Commission meeting last week, Fire Warden Allen Adams told commissioners that fuel levels are at a “very critical stage” even with recent moisture.

Commissioner Taylor Jones noted moisture levels are the lowest it’s been in 97 years.

Chairman Keaton West followed with an update from the Sweetwater County Water Users Coalition about water levels in the county’s reservoirs.

He said Fontenelle Reservoir, west and north of Green River, is holding at 264,000 acre feet and is 91% full of an average percentage from last year, while Flaming Gorge Reservoir’s pool elevation level is a little over 6,000 feet and 30.5 feet below full pool. Water level is down 12.5 feet from this time last year, he added.

At the reservoir’s dam, the depth is currently 423-feet deep, 144 feet above the power pool.

Lake Powell and Lake Mead levels are noticeably much lower than is normal, according to the numbers provided by West.

West noted about 700 cfs (cubic feet per second) is being released from Fontenelle; last year’s releases at this time were over 1,000 cfs.

“Obviously a lot lower,” he said.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation’s July 5 report, Flaming Gorge Reservoir pool elevation is 6014.79 feet, which amounts to 75% of live storage capacity.

“Unregulated inflow volume for the month of June is approximately 121,239 acre-feet (af), which is 31% of the average unregulated inflow volume,” the bureau reported. “The July unregulated inflows into Flaming Gorge for the next three months projects to be much below average. July, August, and September forecasted unregulated inflow volumes are 45,000 af (22 percent of average), 26,000 af (36% of average), and 24,000 af (52% of average), respectively.”

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