It feels like an apocalypse in the Southwest — wildfires, floods, drought, heat, smoke. This was not the norm when I moved to Colorado 35 years ago. Climate scientists may have predicted the arrival of these extreme events, but many admit their predictions have come true faster than they expected.
One outcome they pinpointed was the impact of heat and drought on water flows in the Colorado River. For the last 20 years this new climate, combined with booming human population growth, has parched landscapes, drained reservoirs and incited talk of water wars across the region. Lake Powell on the Colorado River, and Glen Canyon Dam which creates the reservoir, have become casualties of this strained environment.
Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States, but in the last year alone its water level has dropped 52 feet and the reservoir now sits at 31.4% full.
If you’re a pessimist, that’s over 68% empty. Water managers are already imposing cuts in water deliveries in some states; all their choices are filled with political pitfalls.
A further complication is that the federal government operates a hydroelectric plant at Glen Canyon Dam that provides cheap electricity to parts of the Southwest. The day is coming when the hydroelectric turbines will stop for want of water to spin them.
To save the lake and generate electricity, the government needs water. But where will that water come from?
Upstream of Lake Powell, in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico are millions of acres of irrigated farms and ranches that suck massive amounts of water out of the Colorado River before it reaches Lake Powell. If those farms and ranches quit taking water and instead ran that water downstream, the lake and its electricity could be saved. To ensure that outcome, the federal government has hatched a plan it calls “demand management,” which proposes to buy or lease massive amounts of farm and ranch water to prop up Lake Powell.
On the one hand, the farmers and ranchers would get paid for the water, and likely paid very well. If I were a rancher who owned water, I’d sit comfortably until the offering price for my water made me even more comfortable.
On the other hand, lots of people and businesses believe that irrigated farming, ranching and outdoor recreation are not only central to the region’s economy, but also to its culture. Should that economy — and the soul of the Southwest — be sacrificed to save a manmade reservoir and its hydroelectricity?
I’m torn by this dilemma. If farms and ranches are dried up, more water flows down the river. More water in the river benefits fish and the environment. But there’s another solution: We can save farms and ranches and instead drain Lake Powell, freeing the Colorado River to flow free through 169 miles of a drowned and beautiful place called Glen Canyon.
There’s always the “save hydroelectricity” argument, but it’s a red herring. There are other ways to generate electricity, including wind and solar. In fact, if you’ve ever stood near Glen Canyon Dam and its hydropower plant, you can’t help noticing that it’s surrounded by millions of acres of dry, sun-drenched landscape that would make a great place for a solar electricity farm.
Electricity can be replaced; farms and ranches cannot.
As we grapple with these tradeoffs, it’s important to remember that even lower water flows are projected for the future, plus more severe heat and drought that will become the “new normal” for the Colorado River and the entire region. Lake Oroville, California’s second largest reservoir, now has inactive hydro turbines because there’s not enough water to turn them, its dusty lakebed a harbinger of what’s to come for Lake Powell.
Let’s also remember that Glen Canyon Dam was finished in 1963 and it and Lake Powell are only 58 years old. The region lived without them before, and it can live without them again. Now, nature is forcing our hand, telling us that it’s time to breach the dam and let the Colorado River run free.
Gary Wockner is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a river-protection activist based in Colorado and runs the nonprofit Save the Colorado. Top photo: John Gibbons/Unsplash.
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For more on what treasures lie beneath the dwindling waters of Lake Powell, read Ghosts of Glen Canyon: History beneath Lake Powell, by C Gregory Clampton, with a foreword by good ole’ Ed Abbey.
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If it were treated like a for profit business and folks had to pay the true cost of resource use, the consumption of meat would drop dramatically; ~80% if all grains and grass are grow to feed livestock.
and this ^ is just one example.
Bottom line is water use is the problem. We still see green lawns and full swimming pools everywhere. No one person needs more than 20 gallons per day. Second, stop letting the water be used by foreign entities to grow crops for export ( essentially exporting the water). Stop bottled water exports, and stop poor farming choices, almonds are a ridiculous crop which waste water, others should also be stopped. Making smart decisions rather than convenient and profitable decisions is all that is needed.
I like almonds.
You like nuts
Lee
I am 80 years old. Sounds smart. Too many dams all over the country.
We all have to figure out how to keep this water going and how we can all work together and pull together but there’s only one situation was that he’s our government but if we can all pull together as a team we can try to figure out how to keep this water going with our water lake are very low and out there at the damage very low we got to keep a usage of trying to work together
You’re living in a dream world if you think we can get by on 20 gallons a day!
I can make 50 gallons in my RV last for a week… No, you don’t need more than 20 gallons a day.
Flooded rivers in Central US could pipeline this fresh water using interstate 80 with flood waters from Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri rivers. Using water that is not wanted. Creating jobs, helping agriculture, filling water needs, and helping all.
This is the smartest solution and comment yet!
Right
I’ve thought of this same thing, and Wonder why we haven’t tried it yet!
This could benefit in so many ways!
Water flowing through turbines doesn’t disappear, so what is your point on that as it relates to more water if the dams are breached?
Desalination from the rising ocean water levels. Expensive, and process includes air pollution and hurting oceans environment, but would help 50 million people. Ten plants in the works, with ten more in the planning stages. Wide water pipelines, with off ramps to reservoirs tapping off when full. No solution is available without HURT! The ocean would have an unlimited supply. On a side note, the 80 billion California is spending on somewhat of a stupid speed train through the valley, could be used to start a solution, like now.
If the goal is to protect and restore the Colorado River, the solution seems to be keeping more water in the river. Removing the Glen Canyon Dam would certainly reduce losses to evaporation and seepage, but how big are these losses compared to withdrawal for agriculture and other human uses? Will removing the dam get the Colorado back to its desired state in terms of flow, ecology, fish populations, wetland acreage, etc.? If so, great. If not, it seems that removing the Glen Canyon Dam *and* reducing water withdrawals would be the way to save the Colorado.
Lake Powell loses enough water each year through bank seepage and evaporation to completely cover Nevada’s allocation of the Colorado River water. We should remove the Glen Canyon dam and store the rest of that water in Lake Mead. While we can’t stop evaporative losses, it will alleviate a lot of bank seepage as the basaltic rock under Black Canyon where Hoover Dam sits.
Mike,
There is more evaporation at Mead than Powell due its lower elevation.
I think you are saying there is more bank seepage at Powell than Mead due to geology. I have heard this assertion before but not seen any real analysis or even “expert” opinion. Do you know of any?
Thanks,
Living would return back to normal if politicians stop interfering with science.
Investing totally in solar and wind and spare the ground. Let water flow where it’s designed to do so will be the solution.
This can be done anywhere on earth.
Let’s help save our planet. Just a thought
Planning and conservation are overdue
Also is it all going to lake mead to keep them cacinos/Las Vegas in water??? Lake mead is almost empty also sooo??? Just asking
Sorry far thumbs typing for great spelling
The people farthest downstream should decide.
That would be Mexico. Yep makes sense
I like the thought process involved here. But, I wonder about the statement that the dry sunny landscape is perfect for solar panels. Has the author ever been in a desert dust storm? How much dust does it take to drastically cut the energy output of a solar panel? And what would it take to keep a cleaning crew one hand to wash dust off a 100 acres is solar panels? But saying it isn’t doable. Just that the solution will needs work.
I’ll update my comment, now that I’ve searched a bit more on this issue… Panel cleaning/brushing robots seem to be working very well in solar farms in Israel. 99% efficiency. There are a number of other potential solutions that are still in the works but the robot is a great one and has proven itself for several years.
Matt , I have not seen those robots , I gotta look that up.
The author talks of freeing the river.
How one can say to gaze out into the beautiful desert landscape from a top glen canyon dam and picture wind turbines and solar farms in a positive way just stumps me. Don’t forget about the 100’s of thousands of birds it murders and the 1000’s of desert floor animals will be killed during the construction of these farms.
WIND Farms are not the way to go, they are not green, they are not good for the environment,
THen the dam can stay for the hopes the drought will end one day..
The Mississippi river even with 28 locks and dams on the 2000+ mile river it still dumps 593 Thousand Cubic Feet of freshwater into the Gulf. Maybe the greedy deep pockets of the pro wind farm giants can spend their money delivering usable water to the west and buy into the hydro electricity market.. In the future water and water reservoirs will be much more important than electricity..
Small facts you will never hear a Suit that is pro wind turbines talk about.
. A 2 megawatt (MW) wind turbine contains about 800 pounds of neodymium and 130 pounds of dysprosium.
So a 2 MW wind turbine contains about 752 pounds of rare earth minerals.
Mining one ton of rare earth minerals produces about one ton of radioactive waste.
Many wind farms were using smaller commercial turbines rated at 2.5 -3 MW with 4 MW being the max they produce..
Once these projects emerge on the desert landscape the 200-300-ft towers will inevitably be replaced with larger ones; currently the largest turbine is the GE Haliade-X with blades spanning 351 ft and is 895 ft tall. A footbal field is 360ft long for perspective.
A high estimate would be that they operate at 50% yearly average.
Shout out and thank you to many groups educating others and actively protesting these so called “Green Energy” wind farms are making a difference.. A DEAR FRIEND of mine Shannon Salter is part of non profit group Basin and Range Watch making a difference . These small groups need 1 family member from every household that resides in the Las Vegas , Mojave desert area’s join in the fight. Imagine the difference 100k people could make if <100 make save the deserts all ready?
Life changing trip and a guaranteed make you view the desert a different way.
I encourage this fall people to road trip 3 day 2 nights take hwy 395 N and drive through Death Valley camp a night or 2. Exit the east entrance to death valley drive south on Tecopa Rd to Tecopa stay a night at Tecopa Hot springs with access to private in room hot springs or the public group springs, dine at a 4-5 star restaurant and hang on the patio next door at Death valley brewing for true small batch craft beer’s at its finest served by owner and brewer..Throughout that entire area that area the wind turbine giants would decimate if allowed. Then head s.e. toward mountain pass drive grab some quality mexican food for breakfast or lunch then continue east to Red Rocks National Park spend hours or days with hotel casino miles from park. to complete the circle head South bound Hwy 15 when you come over the mesa you will see a giant solar farm off to the right
and picture sites like that and wind turbines covering the horizon. Trust me that will be a life changing trip and you will never drive the 15 towards vegas again thinking how miserable the desert looks..
Time permits just after the solar field takes a left on Nipton Rd. 10 miles east stop to check out the Town of Nipton that is UP FOR SALE. Needs a new owner and new management badly, don’t bother wasting your time talking to current town manager, weather and time beaten Stephen Shearin 56 who has squatted in town after the company he was part owner and project manager purchased, actually tricked owner carry paperwork for them to commence a publicity stunt to get and steal millions of naive investors monies.. If you do speak with him, lock your daughters in your vehicle’s wives too if under 30 he knows a bit of the history of the town and can get you in contact with the agent or owner..
Hop back on the 15 S back to suburbia.. Total miles 700 from O.C. and L.A. area.. guaranteed life changing view of the desert and now small groups like Basin and Range Watch are helping preserve that for generations to come.
Saving Glen Canyon Reservoir should be a priority not solar wind farms.If people think that 160+ miles of Colorado river will suddenly be an oasis of boating and good times they are wrong it will be decades before that will ever happen again. I read there has been fr years up to a 5 year waiting list to raft the colorado as it is.
Destroying that dam instead of just shutting down the power plant for a while let the water go through the tunnels and hope that after a few years of good snow pack it will be filled again, creating electricity and not draining into the gulf of Mexico like the Mississippi.Aren’t we supposed to be afraid of the ocean’s rising too..lol geez
Maybe this tidbit i write..will make people shower a few minutes less, use that cold water that is wasted while waiting for hot water to water plants to brush their teeth. Get rid of the lawn and stop hosing down the driveways, plant drought resistant landscapes and recycle grey water in every household.. and GET ROOFtop solar panels…
They make them to automatically tilt when such things like that happen,when snow,sand,etc. They have them in Alaska where my family lives,Montana, Colorado,Utah, yes such ideas exist.
Inflow is only part of the problem. But because it impacts only ranchers and farmers and many fewer homeowners, it is seemingly easier to restrict than greater restrictions in largely populated areas downstream. Mange the outflow too.
It’s a convoluted mess to be sure. But there are already long-standing agreements and unfortunately the department of reclamation has a lot of say in what happens to ol’ Glenn dam. I’m 99.99% sure the government won’t give up their dam.
We have had water because wise men built dams and channeled the river. Power can be made with solar and turbines even if the dams are in place. Droughts do not last for ever. And when it’s over there will be time to remove wind and solar equipment. We must Stop thinking all or nothing. Some water leasing is ok but not all of it. Balance is important. Something we aren’t good at.
Droughts do not last forever. But this one will last many decades; it may be 200 years before temperatures come down again. We have to plan for that.
You say drought can’t last forever. You do realize that the Sahara Desert was once a lush and green place.
Lots of people have lots of suggestions about draining Lake Powell and 99.99999999% of don’t live there. Are you all ready to live with yourselves by wiping out Page and the surrounding communities? I doubt it because the people of Page and the surrounding communities are going to need places to live and jobs. Guess where they’re going to go. To YOUR towns and compete for YOUR jobs.
Elementary scare tactics dont work on me.
I was born and raised in the Colorado River Basin, but now live far away. I would be thrilled if the -only- thing we had to deal with as a result of the removal of the Glen Canyon Dam was that the former residents of Page came looking for a place to live and a new job. People are pretty smart, we can figure that little problem out, no worries.
Page was formed as a construction town to begin with, and of course 99% of us don’t live there, there is only a population of roughly 7500 people and the other towns are still much smaller. And while you’re so interested in the jobs, there really won’t be any if the entire thing continues to dry up.
Other option, open it up and push for a continuation of the river running trend that has been growing. Its super popular in the grand canyon and further up the green river, push for different industries that take advantage of the situation. In addition, you would have more area to develop, and potential new locations that would draw tourists as they have been filled in with water for half a century.
Water for other cities is going to continue to be a problem, but water is going to be a problem for the entire region for the foreseeable future anyway. The entire reason it was built was to control the floods from runoff from the mountains, help utilize it throughout the year in the region, and really what it has done is depleted the nutrients in the soil from preventing the silt from running down stream, and allowed more water to be lost due to evaporation, while also helping to create the off balance demand for the water in the first place.
I understand where you are coming from, there are a lot of tourist dollars going to the area, but if you are worried about that you are looking at the entirely wrong thing.
To quote the article: ‘Let’s also remember that Glen Canyon Dam was finished in 1963 and it and Lake Powell are only 58 years old. The region lived without them before, and it can live without them again.’
The exact same concept applies to Page and surrounding communities. We can live without them.
I have relatives in Arizona, they use more water on their yard and pool than I use on my 6 acre hay farm in Colorado. The southwest is out of control with its water use. The southern states use all their allocated water. The northern states use less than half of their allocations so you all think that we should cut the northern states water to supplement the southern states and their golf course, swimming pools and water features…it’s time you look around and check yourself.!!!
Hydro power is CO2 free, we need more reservoirs, not less.
I’m betting your relatives live in Phoenix metro where they actually get rain.
If letting the river run freely is the solution, how about we starting by plugging the Alva B. Adams Tunnel and let water that falls on the west side of the divide actually flow west, instead of siphoning it over to the front range of Colorado?
If people live in a desert, water should cost a lot. Or better tham that (because the rich don’t care and would use lots and just pay) put a use amount limit. If water is scarce and it is in demand, it should only be used for essential use.
Need to build water supply from the Mississippi River to Colorado River. This water could be used to additionally refill with freshwater the Dalton Sea. Need to build another water supply from the Colorado River to Owens Lake, which is currently dry. There are several other dry lake beds that could be filled too. This would supply all the water we need in the west. Unfortunately, our do nothing political class will continue to watch the population double and never solve the problem until we run out of water.
As a young family, we enjoyed the use of lake] Powell.. boat camping, water skiing, mochi Indian steps, nature, toilet paper and shovel. If we pipe oil, let’s pipe water!!
We are capable To run a pipelines any place in the world for oil & gas so tap the Missippippi or Great Lakes to Powell or where ever, but you know the environmental Lefty’s will will dam up that idea.
Did everyone forget basic purpose of reservoirs? It’s to control water ‘reserves’ so we can produce a consistent flow year round. If you remove the reservoirs, You’ll have too much water during spring runoff, then nothing but a trickle in the fall.
The problem isn’t the reservoirs… The problem is general selfish higher use than supply. Our past stored water reserves in Reservoirs like lake Powell is taking the brunt of the over use today, but obviously today, we are using way more than even a ‘good water year’ can make back up for.
Yo Gary, you have no ideas what you’re recommending here. In a time with shortages your recommending we stop water to productive farms and orchards in Colorado so more people can have it in wastelands like Phoenix or Las Vegas, or worst yet SoCal. None of which act as anything other than population concentration centers in the middle of dead lands. Let me dump more water into your lawns, pools, and golf courses in the Mojave Desert!!!
I think water use restrictions are necessary and inevitable. Let’s start with lawns and golf courses, and move to working ranches when we have to.
People need to realize that the situation was created by state and federal goverment. Cities continue to give waivers to golf courses for donations to elected officials. Cities continue to take water and never bother to recycle the water. Most of these southwestern states and California destroyed thier local aquifers by over pumping so they decided to take from the Colorado River. And thier solution is to steal from Peter and give to Paul. Goverment doesn’t care about conservation, they only care about how they can make a buck. The scream the want clean air and sell waivers to big corporations so they can pollute. They scream ration of water and sell waivers to dairys in Arizona and bottle companies in Californua and to golf courses. The truth is its about money and the people who live in these areas are a second thought to the goverment. So people need to demand recycling of water, like El Paso has done and extracting clean water from the ocean instead of allowing California to take from inland and destroying the region like they did in the San Juan Valley that is now sinking cause the water aquifer is basically gone. The goverment practices a slash and burn mentality. They come in with big business promising great things, use up the resources and create temporary jobs than leave once they make a profit and leave the local population holding the bill.
Stop n think this whole problem may have never happen if the.auto makers would of covered 20 yrs age . Oil Co keep paying off auto makers to keep making gas cars its all about $ that put us in global warming n we have seen nothing yet were losing are glaciers for drinking water now let oil people drink your oil.
PS. the rat race don’t help.
lake fowell is going down from evaporation plus the massive amounts of sediment flowing in to the lake is raising the lake bed level. squeezed from both directions, the lake level is falling. drain lake fowelll and let it flow in to mead. and here in the phoenix valley we need to learn how to say “no” to all the grass growing. on an 8 mile drive to a hiking destination i pass 2 golf courses with water spewing many days each month. meanwhile 30 to 40% of the navajo nation has to haul water to survive.
Sorry, but my Violin is broke. Basically it boils down to the human propensity to knee jerk everything. Be it personal or local or global concern. So what do we you propose? A Federal mass redistribution of people into low population density areas? Perhaps mandating statewide per household water rationing? Setting a city wide population density limit in five state’s? Creating a Lotto to move in or out of the five state’s?.
Free the river n walk in beauty, ocean life needs r prayers, water will b abundant, enjoy life as it was b4 pa low ticians,
Golf courses are not vital, and they suck up a ton of water. Golfers can still golf without beautiful green grass, perhaps?
Golfers have a lot of money and uppity rich people with a lot of political influence. These snot nosed people have no concience. Industrial parks have ponds with big fountains spraying water. Large lawns so those pretty people can look at them out of their corporate office window.
If there is no water and lower future projections. What water will Free Flow???
Idle the turbines and regulate the flow more natural. Just think if Lake Powell wasn’t there. That’s a Bazillion gallons of water that would not have been available and would have dried up in mexico…
We (perhaps via Congress) should ask the Bureau to do a serious study of alternatives. Too much is at stake, including pride, and government employees won’t go out on a limb unless they are so instructed.
Nuclear power is part of the answer.
Nuclear power should be the only answer now. They don’t have a problem with running ships and submarines with it.
If you like fruits and veges dont year down the dam
I’m lactose intolerant and drink almond milk. Yes many people are.
I switched to oat milk. Less water intensive.