When this photo was taken in May 2021, Lake Powell's elevation was about 138 feet below full pool. The white band shows where the lake level had been. Today it's down more than 170 feet/Kurt Repanshek
Lake Powell at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area hasn't been this low since the early 1980s, and the country's second-largest reservoir is expected to shrink even more before the spring snowmelt begins.
According to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation authorities, who operate the hydrogenerating station inside the Glen Canyon Dam, on Wednesday the lake surface was at an elevation of 3526.63 feet, or 173 feet below full pool, and just 36 feet above the spot at which there won't be enough water to drive that generating station. That power plant provides electricity for an estimated 3 million people.
The outlook is not promising. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, rivers that flow into Lake Powell are running not quite 55 percent of normal for this time of year. The 28 reservoirs upstream of Lake Powell, meanwhile, are less than 63 percent full, the agency adds. And the water that has flowed into Lake Powell since the "water year" started October 1 has amounted to 1.6-million acre feet, or not quite 60 percent of average.
From another perspective, the water that has flowed out of Lake Powell and down into Grand Canyon National Park has exceeded inflows into the reservoir by 1.2-million acre feet. As of March 2, the lake was less than a quarter full.
And if you look up into the mountains that hold the snow that melts and sends, in theory, its water down to Lake Powell, the snowpack is at 89 percent of average for the date. Another problem, however, is that the ongoing drought that started around 2000 has left Colorado River Basin soils so dry that they're sucking up a lot of that snowmelt, leaving less to flow down the streams and rivers to Lake Powell.
At Glen Canyon NRA, officials have been working with consultants to figure out a way to extend boat ramps far enough to reach the water so the upcoming summer season will offer a place for houseboaters, anglers, and others to cool off and relax and, along the way, power the economies of surrounding towns.
Support Essential Coverage of Essential Places
Comments
I houseboated the lake when it was 2' from full, with heavy snowpack melt from Colorado, accessed all marinas, Rainbow Arch , Kayaked, pulled 16' boat to access narrow area up canyons, 3 weeks of beautyful breezes , starlit skies , no cell service, docking beaches every night with 75' of rope & anchor to maintain 50 houseboat. Bathed in lake while floating in innertubes, using Soap on a Rope around neck to secure soap. Memories.