Efforts Being Made To Increase The Water Level At Lake Powell

Major steps are being planned to raise the water level at Lake Powell. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday it will release a half-million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir into Lake Powell later this year. In doing so, it will hold back 480-thousand acre feet that would normally get released down the Colorado River and into Lake Mead. The steps is expected to raise Lake Powell’s water level by 16-feet. The goal is to preserve hydroelectric power at Glen Canyon Dam, and water supply to Page and the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation. Officials say the seven Colorado River basin states, tribes and Mexico signed off on the unprecedented move. Lakes and reservoirs along the river have dropped to their lowest since they were built, largely due to the region’s long-running drought and climate change.