One of the hopeful notes coming out of the recent Colorado River discussions is the way the operation of Glen Canyon Dam in a more flexible way, to accommodate a broader range of values, is back on the table. The USBR alternatives released ahead of this week’s Colorado River Water Users Association, while requiring some tea leaf divination because of their brevity, seem to leave the door open for this discussion.
Jack Schmidt and I have a new white paper offering some assistance, based on our understanding of the legal and regulatory structure around Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The idea behind what we’re arguing isn’t to wag a regulatory finger and say, “The law requires us to do X.” Rather, we’re saying, “The law enables us to do X,” where for “X” we argue for the consideration of a wider range of social, cultural, and environmental values as we make decisions about how to divide the water up between Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
The resources in each part of this spectacular region are unique. Cataract Canyon was known to river runners as the “graveyard of the Colorado” because of its challenging rapids. Glen Canyon held sublime beauty amid the tranquility of its countless side canyons until they were inundated, and those side canyons are now reemerging. Grand Canyon is one of Earth’s greatest geological statements and is sacred to many native American tribes. In the eyes of the Bureau of Reclamation in the 1960s, and to millions of visitors today, Lake Powell is the “Jewel of the Colorado.” Lake Mead, visited by four million people each year, is the largest reservoir in the United States and allowed transformation of much of the American Southwest.
In 2025 we have an opportunity to establish policies for the Colorado River that honor these diverse and evolving environmental and societal values. The legal and administrative foundations that guide river and reservoir management in Cataract Canyon/Lake Powell/Glen Canyon/Grand Canyon/Lake Mead appear to encourage, and perhaps even require,
consideration of the many environmental and societal resources throughout this diverse region.
A quick look fails to find an acknowledgement of the problem. That climate change is drying up the southwest. The global problem and the local problem both are caused by too much growth that is made possible by the use of too much fossil fuel. Unfortunately the modern world is dedicated to continuing as much growth as can be had. Consequently the amount of CO2 in the air continues to rise. 420 something ppm.
I’ve read that people are pouring into Phoenix. More A/C. The reverse is what is needed. There is no capacity for telling millions of people that they can’t do something. Especially Americans.
The simple method is to tell the current water users that we have screwed up and you will have to make do with 80% of the water that was agreed to. Or whatever the figure is. Which will decline. Figure it out.
“We” overdeveloped. Too bad. We had a really good thing here.