What a drought has uncovered about Lake Powell

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It’s not “crazy” how far the water has dropped—it was predicted. What’s crazy is how we’ve allowed it to happen.

"Water, water, water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount , a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be." -Edward Abbey

"We're going to have to start thinking about how we use water." - 2022 🤦 We were trying to raise this issue in 1982 when I was a grad student in Geography, and it wasn't new then. Most people won't listen to experts and prefer wishful thinking instead.

The two perspectives in this video describe my internal conflict over this change. I spent a great deal of my time growing up at lake powell with our family on the boat. It is my favorite place in the world and to think I may never be able to bring my own kids is heart breaking. On the other side, I share the same sentiments with the second interviewee. While my heart is filled with so much grief I cant help but to be in awe of the beauty of glen canyon being resurrected.

But the desert southwest still insists on having green lawns, huge palms that require a ton of water, the bottling plants, farms, and golf courses that also use water that should be used for consumption and power not for frivolous or downright stupid uses in a freaking desert.

it's not just climate change, it's also the growing population along with the endless amount of housing and all the new communities that go with it. Arizona had a population of 1.3 million in 1960, now it's at 7.4 million. Everybody needs water and everybody needs electricity, and no doubt something bad is going to come out of all of this.

You water 'experts' are forgetting one very important thing. The Colorado River has never depended on rainfall in the Southwest. It needs snowmelt from the Wyoming and Colorado snowpacks for its volume. It draws water from about a dozen subsidiary rivers in 7 states. Lack of rainfall doesn't affect it as much as lack of snowpack in the Colorado mountains.

I had a seizure in Lake Powell at 10 yrs old, in 1992... would have died had my cousin not dove down and pulled me up. Earlier in that same trip I remember taking a small boat off the house boat to adventure around. We found this little cove area, and went in on foot... tons of tiny colorful frogs jumping around... it was truly magical. Even tho I almost died here, I hold it so dear and close to my heart. 💙💚💜

Populations in southwest cities like Vegas & Phoenix have increased by 250-400% since 1990. The drought severity index in the southwest has hovered between +3 and -4 over the past 30 years. The last 3 years being the worst of this period, but the water in lake Powell has been steadily decreasing. This is the result of the Phoenix metro area having over 200 golf courses, and hundreds of people moving there every day. The drought isn't helping, but water usage is the real issue in the southwest.

I like how they try to blame "drought" and "climate change" not "People" or the fact they are in a DESERT.

Let’s not forget that around 750-1,000 years ago (if memory serves me) the native American cliff dwellers (Mesa Verde? Bandalier?) departed after 25-30 years of drought.

It's difficult to watch the view of the area of Lone Rock completely dry around it. I spent so many summers at Lone Rock Beach, never imagining that it would one day be so dry that I could walk up to it instead of boating up to it. People should've started conserving water a couple decades ago when the level began dropping. I understand the push to drain the lake, and I've seen just a few of the thousands of artifacts the University of Utah was able to rescue as the lake began to fill in the 60's, but it hurts to see it that low. This was always mine and my dad's special vacation spot. I'm kinda glad he didn't live long enough to see it like this. I think he'd be just as heartbroken as I am to watch it disappearing so fast. That being said, I do think it's a wonderful thing that so many native and also unique geological formations are now being seen after being underwater for many decades.

Edward Abbey was 60 years ahead of his time. He fought tooth and nail against the building of the dam, predicting that it would be only a quarter full by now. I’d say he was just about spot on.

The southwest is one of the sunniest places on earth. The fact that single family homes aren't required to produce a percentage of their own electricity through solar is squandering of a natural resource. If every home produced 20% of it's own power needs the power worries would be nearly eliminated if not fully.

When I was a T.A. For freshman Geography in the 1980s, I would show my students a film about the Colorado River, which even then did not reach the sea. The main points I remember about the Glen Canyon Dan concerned the flooding of the natural beauties of the canyon, and the dam’s ineffectiveness at fulfilling the purpose for which it was built. The Glen Canyon Dam was a mistake in the first place.

Sad😢 I have such special memories of Powell. I knew a lady who hiked those canyon's in the 50's. She was a photographer and poet and had some beautiful framed pictures. I remember asking her about them and when she told me it was Cathedral Canyon under Lake Powell I was amazed.

Millions of people living in a desert was never a good idea. Las Vegas ! How does Las Vegas make sense in a desert ?

The dwindling lake is once again, revealing the hallowed and protective canyons where my paternal ancestors hid from the U.S. Army during the mid 1860s. This particular genocidal campaign called for the Dine, the Navajo to be rounded up and forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland to be relocated to an abysmal concentration camp along the NM/Texas border. Many perished during the "Long Walk," and the four years of confinement at Fort Sumner ("Hweeldi," The place of suffering and fear) before they were allowed to return to a newly established reservation. Never heard of this atrocity? The US was focused on the Civil War so few were aware of it.

Went there 4 years ago and it was a lot lower than I expected compared to when I went there 25 years ago but the biggest disappointment was the upstream canyons were full of pollution. Some of the hideaway canyons actually stunk bad and there was lots of trash everywhere....sad.