Wednesday Reprint 9/7/22
Continuing with Wednesday reprints of favorite photos from prior blog entries:
The Colorado River is THE major source of water for agriculture and municipalities in major parts of Arizona, California, Colorado and Utah. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two largest reservoirs on the river, also are major sources of hydroelectric power - the Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam on Lake Mead. The river and these reservoirs have been in the news due to 20 years of drought that has now reached a critical level. The consequences have been significantly decreased river flow and lower reservoir levels, leading to water distribution restrictions and cut-backs in electrical power production.
So-called “bathtub rings” in Lake Powell and Lake Mead - a light colored area on the rocks that line the shorelines of these two reservoirs, which indicates how much water levels have fallen - have become indicator of how severe the drought situation has become.
While touring National Parks in the Southwest in 2016 we saw the bathtub ring in Lake Powell firsthand. At that time the ring was 50 ft high (the lake level had fallen 50 ft over 15 years). Today, six years after these photos were taken, the bathtub ring on Lake Powell is three times that height at 150 ft, clearly indicating the severity of the drought in recent years. Additional drops in water level will mean the possibility of extreme water restrictions and the cessation of electrical generation given a minimum "hydraulic head" of water is needed to turn the turbines in hydroelectric dams.
An original survey photo with markings of the area where the Glen Canyon Dam was constructed hangs in the visitor center. It confirms that with a 150 ft bathtub ring, the water level in Lake Powell is nearing that critical point.
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