Draining Lake Powell may eventually be necessary due to drought and design of Glen Canyon
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- The population of the American west has soared, which has led to more demand for water. The population boom happened right alongside a record-setting drought.
Those circumstances have led some to believe draining Lake Powell is no longer a fanciful idea.
FULL STORY: kutv.com/news/...
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I don’t like one sided opinionated reporting
This is a very one sided article. If Lake Powell had never been built,,,Phoenix and Arizona would have had its water shut off 10 years ago. Water for S Cal, would have been a trickle for the past 10 years.. Reservoirs have several jobs Flood control,, enough capacity to keep flooding downstream from occurring. Water retention for drought years,, such has happened for the past 20 years. And power generation. Lake Powell has been fully half the equation for this past 20 years. Do not wish it away. It is allowing 25 million people to live. The reservoir WILL reach a life span. Sediment from upstream is continuing to fill the lake bottom. The lake bottom will fill with sediment in 200 to 1,000 years.
Though i agree with you, i also have some disagreement. Though the reservoirs provide water for 25 million people to live in dryer area, there shouldn't even be 25 million people in those area if the natural water cycle doesn't allow for the support that kind of mass population. Its a disaster waiting to happen, and we're watching it right now. The problem isn't just the fact that rain water had slow down for years now, its also the fact that the demand for water have dramatically increased, because the population have been exploding where it shouldn't even be possible.
But we got a hip young guy in sunglasses telling us exactly what will happen in the future.
They didn't talk about removing the the dam. Also water levels are very low all along the Colorado River. Seepage into the soil and evaporation taxes the water in the river in compounding ways. Deadpool is when all the water flowing into the reservoir is lost to evaporation and seepage over a large surface area. Reopening the diversion tunnels to allow the water to continue to flow and emptying the reservoir eliminates large surface area of evaporation and ground seepage. When the mega Storms come and Hoover dam approaches capacity the secondary backup 10-year supply can refill again to help get through the next drought. There's not enough water to maintain the huge surface area of both reservoirs with neither near capacity. Allowing the reservoir to drain will allow more water to stored in other depleted reservoirs. Utah needs to look and to improving the water Management. For instance you have to have green water grass and turf is forbidden as one example along with pumping for farms at bargain basement prices to grow the thirstiest of crops in the desert with no limit. The billion dollar plan to move Lake Powell water across Utah for public consumption seems doomed before it began as there's really no water in the lake really to speak of to feed a new thousand miles of irrigation canals to the opposite side of the state.
@@igot2remember I agree. Completely. This, use the river water down to the last drop, is just nuts. If less water comes down the river,, use less that year. Want green lawn? Tough bananas ! Move to Michigan. This is desert country and spending a water deficit year after year after year is just nuts. The last time the reserviors were completely filled was 40 year ago. The SW has been deficit spending for 39 years. But,,, in this bank account,,, there is zero permitted overdraft. Conservation should have started 30 years ago. Including Denver.
This guy likes to find out about problems way too late.. I like it
I used to live between two mega farms. The road I lived on ran between them and Bill Watson was out one dry blistering Texas summer day. He was clearing brush from a road side ditch. I stopped to talk. Billy said "it doesn't look like it now but it's gonna to come a rain and when it does these ditches have to flow water." It's what I think about this story. It's gonna come a rain.
Yep you're right this is a one-sided article and they need to shut the hell up
Radical environmentalists
So superior , so glib and evil
Jumping the gun. 'The sky is falling!'
about that dought...you all just got Glenn Canyon back for a few months, that's all...
Wow wasnt the water very low when the dam was built and it filled up over time with the way the so called climate change is it could rain for 40 days and 40 nights.
UhOh, what you been doing Shaver Dave??? Or have you just been watching the news?😜
Trust me they will never drain that reservoir. They will just build bypass tunnels to the lakes floor to feed the generators like they did at lake mead to feed Las Vegas
there are massive coal fired power plants all over utah,nevada--they do not need the hydro power,it is just cheaper
Second feature of hydro power,, volume of water , yes,, but a lower tunnel will steal the second required feature, vertical. The water must fall a distance to generate power. Lower tunnels will not work.
@@dethray1000 Nevada has one, rated at 522 MW, Utah has four, rated at about 4,500 MW, all Utah plants have closing dates with the largest, Intermountain, 1640 MW in 2025.
Exactly, look at the Columbia river.
@@steven4315 Then all of the liberals will be screaming about no power to charge their stupid EV's
Relax it will refill
This was published two weeks ago. What about the atmospheric river that is occuring in CA right now?
It really didn’t do that much.
90% fell in CA and the Great Basin... little fell in the Rockies
@@bukboefidun9096 TRUCK FUMP SORE LOSER
@@Cj-pg4qe hi groomer
Plenty fell in the Rockies. We are at 170% of average for this time of year.
just wait tell the weather pattern switches.
Pueblo remains have warned us this area simply can’t sustain large population.
Yes, look at Mesa Verde... but, wait, global warming is new... nevermind
Oh ya listen to a bunch of drunk indians.
Cyclical weather patterns will control lake levels. It wasn't that many years ago that Flaming Gorge, Powell and Mead were spilling water over the emergency spillways. Same happened at Oroville and Shasta in California.
yep. Truth is Tracy Stone-Manning has wanted them empty when she was a young girl going to school in Bozeman, nothing has changed other than she now has the power to make that real. Fire Tracy she is miss managing our recourses for her personal political agenda.
True
The last time Powell came close to being toped was June 2, 1983. That's 40 yrs ago. Nothing close since. Each cycle in the graph, ends lower than the previous cycle. The USGS graph for reference.
eros.usgs.gov/sites/eros.usgs.gov/files/inline-images/USBR%20graph%20from%20Jun%202022.PNG
@@xen1313 40? that's not that many years ago...
Actually, I remember when it was built. I remember the plan being to keep the pool well below Rainbow Bridge then, not too many years later, the pool was nearly there.
This last few years of drought in the Colorado River Basin has been tough. This summer should be really interesting with a lot of moisture coming...
Talk about stupid reporters. The only way for water to get below dead pool is for water usage above the dam to exceed the flow of the Colorado River. If that happens then the dam is a moot point. It would mean the river is completely dry and everything below it would dry up as well.
These people have to be the most short-sighted or dumbest people alive. As long as there is inflow from the river behind the dam, there will never be dead pool. If the amount of water entering minus the evaporation is greater than zero, then the lake's level will rise and the water will go through the piping. The question is how much water they let pass through the gates. THAT will determine if the water level keeps dropping or not. Think of it this way. If you plug the bathroom sink and let the faucet drip, the bowl will eventually fill up to the overflow port and run down the drain. That's essentially the same as the dam system. The question is do you open the drain or not and how much water rains and the upper river provide (faucet drip rate).
As you said a reservoir with a massive inflow (no matter how dry a year it is) will never go dead pool as long as the dam is intact. It's just not possible unless all the rivers feeding it went to near zero flow (less than evaporation). And the only way that reservoir completely goes away is if you put the drain at the very bottom of the dam and open it all the way (or destroy the dam completely), or you can wait for it to fill with sediment (about 500 years give or take). If the dam lasted that long it would be a super cool waterfall when the water goes over the top. Given enough time the whole thing (sediment, dam and all) erodes to its original state. That river/canyon will 'win' eventually.
They call it fake news for a reason.....
Hey maybe they should destroy the dam like those idiots who take out dams been doing all over not caring that the lakes they make actually help wildlife.
The word Lake should be reserved for a natural formation. None of which are harmful. Resivores created by dams, and named lakes are a different matter.
Meanwhile Colorado snow pack exceeds 250 percent of normal.....
Meanwhile there is enough snow to fill up lake powell if the Colorado River doesnt not get diverted before it reaches lake powell. According to western states water managers/regulators.
This is totally one sided and is part of the problem, not the solution. Stories like these are hurting everyone
Bro if anyone has been there with their family won’t let some hikers drain it for a canyon 😂☠️
Well, I agree except for the fact that we need to get a huge amount of water every year for years to come & unfortunately that's not going to happen. Luckily I went there twice in the early-mid 70's. It was a unbelievable place, it had buoys that let you know to veer left or right to stay in the main channel, otherwise you might go a few miles up a cove arm thinking it was the channel.1800 miles of shoreline, southern marina to the northern marina was 150 miles as the crow flies. Huge!!!
With rain and snow has it done any affect
Lake Powell is not "going away". Where were these people in 1983? Good snowpack this year will bring Powell back to a respectable level.
The atmospheric river/storm off the west coast just might be what the lakes need. If we could just get a good soaking/wet season.
You would need a dozen seasons like that to replenish the reservoirs. One wet summer will not undo 22 years of drought and water abuse.
@@douglasskaalrud6865 do you have a degree as a meteorologist
@@robertboudreauxxx tf that have to do with anything lake Oroville barely went up 1% from that storm
@@haroldsmith5150 up 60 feet since Christmas eve
No BC the unsustainable growth in the DSW will use more than is recharged. Population unchecked, destroying the fragile desert SW. Powell will continue to be used up faster than it can recharge.
Building cities and allowing population growth and development to occur where it should never have happened has consequences.
Wrong. It is not necessary to drain Lake Powell.
Well, that's over!
get back to us in another 2 weeks ...record rainfall in commiefornia record snow in donner pass etc etc
Yes but the heavy precipitation is due to global warming... as has been the drought.
Ask The Mutant Greta
these guys are the modern luddites where do they think the water is going to come from ?
I would hold on to that idea, God is working on filling it up, just be patient cuz that storm train is on the way
Yeah God's on it. He's actually pissed because we took one of His most beautiful creations and drowned it, filled it up with mud and silt and quagga mussels, not to mention trash, sunken boats, batteries, and other toxic waste. And so He sent a mega drought upon the West to punish the sinners who violated His great work.
Guys talkin like they know somethin they don't.
The man upstairs can solve this in a short time if he desires, might be a bit painful
Bet they aren't saying anything about that these days
Legend has it on the bottom of the lake there’s a lake monster
That "monster" needs to stop drinking all the water.
At the bottom of the lake is the Colorado river.
Some people AKA The lunatic & dishonest fringe. The made no mention of any snow pack data because they know it is still the same as it has been with wet/dry cycles. The level of the lake is determined by down stream water demand.
Why is she holding an ipad she never looks at? Oh look at me, I'm all tech savvy. You're a news presenter. Just read the teleprompter
Cloud seeding is an existing technology, I don’t understand why they aren’t using it to create more precipitation to fill the reservoirs. Or what about some sort of pipeline with a slow but steady flow of sea water run through a desalination plant. If we need the water and power, we need to start looking at solutions, because climate change is a long term problem to be solved.
If not for lake Powell, very few people would have ever seen glen canyon
"Mother Nature" holds all the cards? Are you just not able to say God is in control? Because He is, whether you can say it or not.
I get news agencies need alarming headlines like this for money. But the truth will make so much more money and the solution.
So much BS….
What climate change? 😆
Or, shut the Hoover dam and fill up Mead.
Then stop the flow out of Powell until it's full.
Everyone downstream of Mead can just deal with it.
Glen canyon pictograph not to scale… a bit 🤷🏻♂️
I’m glad this is seriously being discussed… the main reason why we are in critical shortage is because housing and other developments often take for granted that water resources are endless in suppling the projects. I hope future developers along with the municipalities will incorporate “sustainable “ resource infrastructure projects as part of supplying the increasing demands that affects us all.
“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break....I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.”
― Edward Abbey
Wow, what an incredibly dumb poem.
@@mikelp72 it’s an Ed Abbey quote taken from his writings. He wasn’t really known to be a poet, though he did wax poetic from time to time. Hayduke lives!
You need water
Somewhere, Edward Abbey is smiling.
Wait, without the water in Lake Powell this is collected and saved for exactly what has happened during this drought we would have seen the destruction of more than some sage brush.
glen canyon institute needs a reality check. lake powell is here to stay. the lake is not draining itself any more that meade. and meade has a hotter longer summer. drain lake powell and you’ll need to drain all the reservoirs up river to keep the river from running dry before it even gets past page arizona
We should turn Lake Powell into a landfill.
So the garbage runoffs into the drinking supply of millions of people? Lol
Yeah you stupid asf
your brain is a landfill full of garbage,trash..more on
@@dethray1000 you are projecting.
@@Dr.LongMonkey it will help the environment by depopulation through bad drinking water.
Oh yeh,and the people who rely on that water supply just dry up and blow away ?
Or move.
Big mistake if you drain it, all the rain and snow we have been getting is thanks to the eruption of the Hunga Tunga volcano, when it erupted it ejected 4 × the amount of water vapor into the atmosphere than what mt. Pinatoba did back in 93 remember what happened here after that eruption we got 4 feet of snow in the valley and now Hunga Tunga put 4 × the amount of water vapor up into the atmosphere and winter isnt even over it has barely begun so im thinking by july lake Powell and lake Mead will be just about full if not all the way full, draining it would be very stupid, crazyfornia need to build some desalination plants to get there water period, crazyfornia resivors are pretty damn full as of now plus draining it would not be good for the economy in that area so all you people thinking that draining its a good idea maybe you should live in the desert when there is no water for drinking see how long you last
delusional comment. Moisture in the air has nothing to do with where it will come down. Whoever gave you this crazy idea that Lake Powell and Lake Mead will be full but July is straight up delusional.
@@michaelcrossley4716🤔😭🤪🤭🤯😩💩
Stop the farm irrigation and every reservoir will overflow there are parts of the country that can sustain this excessive water consumption why choose the desert
"Back East" the farm belt has early frosts, late frosts, tornadoes, hail storms and other weather that makes farming more of a gamble. Out West, politics is the worst disaster.
They just wanna find Jimmy Hoffa...
The climate change grift is pretty dead at this point
There isn't enough water coming down the Colorado to sustain two huge reservoirs. Trying to maintain both of them vastly increases the amount of water lost to evaporation and infiltration.
your very very low IQ just blathering nonsense
Not!!
Maybe we can get the I~Drainians to help...
Powell continues to fall and the 28 tracked reservoirs also continue to fall.
Its almost like building these dams was a bad idea.
your a bad idea,go away
Screw Lake Mead. Just fill Lake Powell.
Lake Mead was there first, Lake Powell will be breached
@@twostop6895 It doesn't matter what came first. The route of the river is controlled by Nature. If Powell overflows/breaches then we can just release enough water downstream to remain full pool. Then whatever gets to Lake Mead gets to Lake Mead.
I suggest you do a little research. The actual residents of the area were displaced and still aren't to thrilled with the dam . The monkey wrench gang by Edward Abbey is a good start.
This is aridification. Any of these solutions are knee jerk, short term reactions. We need to finally face climate change.
@@macman28888 Research for what? The actual residents which were displaced? Of course they won't be happy. But how long has the reservoir been built? It is like the Lake Mead came first argument.
Also the feelings of the displaced and decedents versus the millions of water users on the river in the upper basin. This is exactly why we have Eminent Domain Laws.
Pure BS. The lakes are filling at record rates with the rain storms and snow melt off from the mountains, for example just look at the flooding in California.
Powell is down .63 feet for the last 14 days.
@@steven4315 But where is it compared to mid-summer?
Stop the farm irrigation and every reservoir will overflow
Yeah OK will see about that 🙄 I live right by the Niagara River and Niagara Falls they divert alot of water for electricity and consumption and Niagara River still overflows you people out west would shit your pants if you seen how much water goes over Niagara Falls every second of the day it never stops!!!!!! And people out west need to leave are Great Lakes alone we dont have the issues they have out west and Great Lakes water is still high as shit and going up
@@wm3293 right and you guys should keep the water in the Great Lakes my point is everyone thinks vegas is consuming all this water when it’s really farms in arizona and California growing literal hay for cattle. Las Vegas recycles every drop that goes into any drain
@Hunter Kirsch I know it's not Las Vegas but your right about California they want unlimited water and it's not there. I live right between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls I see nothing but water lol I got videos of Niagara Falls on My channel it's absolutely crazy the amount of freshwater that goes over those Falls every second 75,000 gallons and second over the American Falls and 680,000 gallons a second over Canadian Horseshoe Falls
What I want to know is what caused the medieval warm period and the little ice age 😂
Dead pools zowwe
FOOL you trust this story.?
People keep multiplying and wasting water. We are not living sustainably. Pain and suffering is coming of our own making. We need to have less children, change the way we use water and what we eat. It's adapt or die.
Finally, someone says to Stop Having Kids!
It never should have been built. Lake Mead would have sufficed, and Lake Mead itself is only about 25% of capacity. The earth is warming and no indication that's gonna change. You can buy time by conserving more water or trying to lower the intake the lines but you're not going to change the eventual outcome. Plus, you get the benefit of restoring Glen Canyon which rivaled the Grand Canyon as far as landscape, ecology and also had many Indian archaeological sites. The dam goes, but the canyon comes back.
So every time we have a drought in the DESERT Southwest it is "climate change". Same nonsense heard in California every time the reservoirs are low. Now they are full again with a record snowpack. Reservoirs are built to allow major storage during the rarer very wet years to sustain for the many drier years.
Climate change now holds all the cards.
If you belive in climate change as news reports it. I got a bridge in the desert for sale.
Thanks Big AL Gore who murdered Tipper
Bring out the dam busters
Lake Powell rose up 65 feet this year still wanna drain it
Lake Powell will be full this year and will never be drained--these people are clowns
So why does Powell keep going down?