INFORMATION PUBLICLY AVAILABLE FROM THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
UPPER COLORADO REGIONAL OFFICE
PROPOSALS BY GROUPS TO DRAIN LAKE POWELL
DATA ON POSSIBLE IMPACTS & TECHNICAL INFORMATION

The linked pages (see bar above) contains:

1) A question and answer format concerning the feasibility of draining Lake Powell and the value and benefits of Lake Powell.

2) A response to David Brower's accusations concerning the safety of the Glen Canyon Dam and other misleading information that he provided in an interview with the Lake Powell Chronicle in January 1997.

3) What the impacts of draining or drawing down Lake Powell would be.

We, the Friends of Lake Powell would like to provide some additional information for your consideration. The majority of the data and information was obtained from the Bureau of Reclamation's Upper and Lower Colorado Regional offices. Additional information and data was taken from the Lake Powell Research Project. Researchers from Dartmouth College, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of New Mexico, among others conducted this project.

In the first section of the package the question "Can Lake Mead handle the storage which would be necessary if Lake Powell were drained?"

The Bureau's response is "The long term answer is no…..even for the scenario of present Upper Basin storage." As stated at the beginning of the section "[The Bureau of Reclamation] does not intend to spend funds to conduct such a study unless directed by Congress or the Secretary [of Interior]. In the absence of authority…..it would be inappropriate to spend money on such a study."

In support of the response to the question of Lake Mead's capability to handle the storage requirements, significant, recent, historical data points to the very real potential for water shortages if Lake Powell was drained. A drought (1988-1993) in the watershed supplying the Colorado River resulted in a use of the combined water storage of Lake Mead and Lake Powell of 13.5 million acre-ft. If Lake Powell had not existed during this period Lake Mead would have been drained to half capacity, and Hoover Dam electrical generation would have been in jeopardy in December 1992. These effects are difficult to argue with, they are based on the water use at the time and the existing water supplies.

If a more severe drought were to occur without Lake Powell in place, the next thing to happen after the loss of Hoover Dam electrical generation, would the be curtailment of the water supplies to the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and Southern Nevada. The supply to Southern Nevada would be totally unavailable when Lake Mead Capacity falls below the 1,050 ft. elevation. The next lower basin water users to be curtailed (from present usage levels) would be the Metropolitan Water District including Los Angeles and San Diego County.

Reviewing historical data from the last century, droughts much worse than that experienced in the last decade occurred several times.

This historical data is contained in the Lake Powell Research Project Bulletins (Availability can be determined by contacting the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024). Our copies of the data were found in the John Wesley Powell Museum in Page, Arizona. The data is based on tree ring samples taken in the watersheds for the Colorado River. The data was correlated with measured flows from 1906 through 1961. The figure below was developed using this data and information from the Bureau of Reclamation. The assumptions involved, and the data sources are on a separate page, which can be linked to at the bottom of the page.

Looking back to the last century, it can be seen in the figure below, that Lake Mead would have been completely drained several times. It also shows that for significant periods of time there would have been massive flows over the spillways, which would cause damaging flooding downstream.

This type of river flow may be more natural but the consequences, to the parties dependent on water management to provide adequate water supplies during droughts and flood protection during years of heavy precipitation, would be disastrous.

These estimates are not the result of an official Bureau of Reclamation study, since they do not plan to do a detailed study until directed to do so. The estimates are conservative and reasonable. The Upper Basin usage was held at current levels (4.2 million acre-ft for consumption and evaporation), and the Lower Basin usage was held at the entitlements (7.5 million for the States and 1.5 million for Mexico). The water usage in both basins has grown and will continue to grow.

The 1800's water scenario would result in the following (using full years - there would be many more partial year losses):

• Hoover Dam electrical generation lost for 53 years
• Las Vegas/Clark County water from Mead lost for 43 years
• California water (over entitlement) lost and Mexican water curtailed for 12 years

One has to wonder if the Sierra Club's Board and the Glen Canyon Institute are promoting the draining of Lake Powell to regain Glen Canyon or to force the reduction/elimination of agriculture in, and the depopulation of the American Southwest including Southern California.

For more information contact. friends@lakepowell.org