An interesting, thoughtful, and reasonable Guest Commentary appeared in
Tuesday's Denver Post
Drain Lake Powell and tear down Glen Canyon Dam to promote conservation and
water supply security
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/17/drain-lake-powell-and-tear-down-glen-canyon-dam-to-promote-conservation-and-water-supply-security/
By Daniel P. Beard https://www.denverpost.com/author/daniel-p-beard/ and Gary
Wockner https://www.denverpost.com/author/gary-wockner/ | Guest Commentary
PUBLISHED: September 17, 2018 at 3:10 pm | UPDATED: September 18, 2018 at 12:53
pm
Two days ago a Denver Post front page story
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/16/colorado-climate-change-rising-temperatures-water-supply/
warned of water shortages and climate change facing the Colorado River which
supplies water to much of Colorado and its 5.6 million residents. Other
national stories the past few weeks have focused on the “crisis” and drought
facing the Colorado River due to climate change.
We appreciate the attention paid to water issues, but there’s more to these
stories than often gets reported. Addressing water shortages and
river-protection problems calls for bold steps based on science and common
sense.
Although the population of Colorado and other Colorado River basin states has
increased, water use is declining. This “de-coupling” of population and water
use has occurred because water conservation programs are working and water use
is down. As just one example, Denver’s population has increased by over forty
percent the last two decades, but its water has gone down by over 15 percent.
For nearly two decades, water supplies in the Colorado River basin have been
declining because there is less water. Climate change scientists agree that a
majority of the decrease in river flows is due to the effects of global
warming, and the same scientists using the same models predict that the amount
of water flowing in the Colorado River and its tributaries will decrease even
more as climate change intensifies.
What should we do to address this potential water supply deficit?
Our water managers and elected leaders at all levels blindly cling to the past.
They choose to ignore this science and the fact that conservation programs are
working by pursing a two-pronged approach.
First, they think pouring more concrete and building more storage structures
will result in more water. Second, adding insult to injury, they are paying
lip-service to water conservation efforts that have already demonstrated they
are working.
Building more dams, reservoirs, and diversions won’t address the looming
shortages. There is no new water to fill these facilities and there won’t be
because of the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Even more absurd, our water leaders have become obsessed with the dwindling
water level in Lake Powell in Arizona which serves as a water storage facility
for the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. This reservoir — created by Glen
Canyon Dam — was conceived and built back in the 1940s and 1950s when the law,
science, and flow of water in the Colorado River was radically different.
Seventy-five years ago, there were no American environmental laws to protect
the Colorado River, the science of climate change did not yet exist, and the
flow of water in the Colorado River was much higher.
Despite those changes, water managers and elected leaders at every level refuse
to change. Instead of abandoning the seventy-year-old technology of Glen Canyon
Dam, they are trying to beg, borrow, and tax (steal?) enough money and water to
keep Lake Powell alive.
In fact, they are proposing a so-called “Drought Contingency Plan” which relies
on cloud-seeding to try and make more water, buying and drying-up hundreds of
thousands of acres of farms in Colorado to send more water to Lake Powell, and
draining other reservoirs in Colorado, including Blue Mesa near Gunnison, down
into Lake Powell.
Instead of ignoring science and programs that work, we should chart a new
course.
We propose taking three bold actions:
* Double-down on water conservation everywhere, which is fast, cheap, and easy,
and won’t result in an environmental group suing to stop cities that are trying
to build new river-destroying dams and diversions.
* Stop all the new proposed dams and diversions in the Colorado River basin. As
the old saying goes, “when you’re in a hole, stop digging”
* Finally, we should recognize that Lake Powell is no longer needed. The lake
should be drained and the water sent downstream to fill Lake Mead behind Hoover
Dam which is now less than 40 percent full. In addition, we should permanently
remove Glen Canyon Dam and restore both Glen Canyon and the Grand Canyon in so
doing.
Following these steps based on science and common sense make more sense than
allowing our water managers and elected leaders to perpetuate inevitable water
shortages.
Daniel P. Beard is the former Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
and is author of Deadbeat Dams: Why We Need to Abolish the Bureau of
Reclamation and Tear Down Glen Canyon Dam. Gary Wockner is director of Save The
Colorado is author of River Warrior: Fighting To Protect The World’s Rivers.
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https://www.denverpost.com/2013/07/09/submission-guidelines-and-contact-information/
for how to submit by email or mail.
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