Upper Colorado Basin States Taking Steps To Protect Glen Canyon Dam

With concerns that a lack of water streaming into Lake Powell could put the integrity of the Glen Canyon Dam at risk, the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are taking steps to send additional water downstream.

"The current projections show inflows into Lake Powell at historic lows, with an increased risk that the reservoir could approach critical elevations threatening infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam as early as June 2026," a news release Friday from the Upper Colorado River Commission said. "Historically low runoff is already affecting Upper Basin water users, with mandatory and uncompensated cuts impacting communities, tribes and local economies."

In response, the four states have agreed to implement "significant mandatory and uncompensated reductions through each state’s strict regulation of all water rights," the release said, adding that "each Upper Division State is also immediately implementing voluntary conservation and efficiency measures. In addition, through an agreement between the Upper Division States and Reclamation, the Upper Division States are planning releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah and Wyoming to support Lake Powell. Under that agreement, any water released from Flaming Gorge will be fully recovered once the release concludes and as hydrologic conditions improve."

In addition, downstream releases from Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to Lake Mead National Recreation Area also will be reduced, according to a report Friday in the Arizona Daily Star.

If Lake Powell's surface waters fall below 3,500 feet in elevation above sea level it puts at risk the dam's ability to generate hydropower and could lead to internal damage to the dam's lower level outlets,

So far the seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River to slake the thirst of tens of million residents and visitors and to nourish rich agricultural lands have been stuck at loggerheads over how to update a century-old compact governing who gets increasingly precious Colorado River water.

The once-grand Colorado feeds Glen Canyon and Lake Mead national recreation areas, but extended drought and climate change have left both reservoirs at historic lows and inching toward the "dead pool" level that means there's not enough water to release through their dams.

While the Colorado River Compact of 1922 gave California the oldest water rights to the river, meaning the other states would have to sacrifice their water shares before California would lose a drop, the Upper Basin states argue that the long-running drought and climate change have so greatly reduced the water that feeds the river basin that any resolution to the current standoff must balance downstream needs with actual [e.g., 'wet water'] upstream supplies.

Twice in recent years the federal government has set deadlines for the states to find a compromise, and twice the deadlines have come and gone, although in 2007 an interim agreement was reached to prevent Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border from running out of water while also providing enough water downstream to Lake Mead in Nevada to minimize shortages. That agreement expires at year-end.