Robbing Peter to Pay Powell
Since the publication of my last article in the Zephyr two months ago, the water level at Lake Powell has dropped another two feet. That’s actually less than the typical declines in the fall but the lake has now dropped to a level not seen since 1969 when it was still filling. In an attempt to slow the decline of water in Lake Powell, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates Powell’s Glen Canyon Dam and other dams in the Colorado River basin, has been releasing water from upstream dams. The Bureau has also been helped by some early season snowfall in the Rockies which has been melting because of recent Indian summer weather.
The declines in reservoirs which feed
Lake Powell are most dramatically seen in Colorado’s largest lake, Blue Mesa
Reservoir in the southwestern part of the state (the Blue Mesa Dam was
completed in 1966). From June 21 to
October 31, 2021, the level of Blue Mesa dropped a whopping 35 feet. The decline can be attributed to both the dry
summer and releases from the Blue Mesa dam (from August through October) to
slow the decline of Lake Powell. My Denver
neighbor, Fil Sapienza, who has a Flickr site with terrific travel and nature
photos (https://www.flickr.com/photos/193390301@N07/) has taken photos from the same spot
on the south shore of Blue Mesa (a pull-off on Colorado Highway 149) which
illustrate the dramatic declines in the reservoir over the past ten years.
Blue Mesa Reservoir, Mid-summer, 2011 Fil Sapienza
Where is Blue Mesa Reservoir? September 2021. Fil SapienzaThe Bureau of Reclamation’s desperate
shell game of robbing “Peter” (the upstream reservoirs) to pay Powell is at
best a temporary measure assuming the 20-year Western drought is the new
normal. According to Becki Bryant, the
Bureau’s Public Affairs Officer in Salt Lake City, these supplemental releases
from the Flaming Gorge and Blue Mesa reservoirs ended in October and those from
the Navajo Reservoir will end in December. In the meantime, my reading of the daily rises
and falls of Powell and the other reservoirs indicate that the Bureau is also tweaking
water levels in reservoirs further down the Colorado – Mead near Las Vegas;
Mohave – near Laughlin, Nevada; and Havasu near Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The Bureau finds itself caught up in a web of
competing interests including the seven states in the Colorado River Basin,
Native American tribes, cities, special interest groups, and the general
public. According to Ms. Bryant, “protecting
the elevations of Lake Mead and Lake Powell remains a top priority” but she
avoided direct answers to my specific questions such as, “With both Powell and
Mead at record lows, why not release less water from them and let water levels
in [downstream] lakes Mohave and Havasu decline?”
In the meantime, the Colorado River shell game of dam releases and non-releases offers a very short-term delay in the coming disaster for hydroelectric power generation, agricultural irrigation, potable water for Western cities, and water recreation.
With regard to water recreation, my partner, Judy, and I visited the deserted Iola Boat Ramp on the southern shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir on September 29 of this year. Here’s what we found there:
Not only was the Iola ramp “closed
for the season” but by early October all boat ramps at Blue Mesa were
closed. Unless the mountains receive
good snowfall this winter, boaters can expect an even shorter season in 2022.
Here is an easterly view which Judy shot from U.S. Highway 50 of the north side of Blue Mesa reservoir. Water in this inlet used to reach to nearly where she was standing.
On September 30, Judy and I drove to the Taylor Park Reservoir on the Taylor River which flows southwesterly to the Gunnison River which, in turn, flows to the Blue Mesa Reservoir. Thus, releases from this reservoir wind up in Blue Mesa.
Judy Greenfield 
Taylor Park Dam was completed in 1937 to provide irrigation water for farmers and ranchers in the Uncompahgre valley 100 miles to the west. It lies at 9300 feet above sea level and about 3000 feet below the Continental Divide a few miles to the east. It is one of dozens of small dams in the Rockies with associated reservoirs which rise and fall depending on the annual benevolence of the snow gods. Lately, these gods seem to have been enjoying a long nap. Will they awaken this year to bless the West? Stay tuned!
First published in the December 2021 – January 2022 issue of the Canyon Country Zephyr. Following are comments posted in the Zephyr:
Bruce Briscoe (Bali, Indonesia)
December 1, 2021 at 6:14 pm
Another great article by Mr. Mahoney. Please
keep them coming. Is there any way you could make him an actual full-time
reporter? I’d love to read additional things that interest him (and us).
H.Bruce Baskette
(Colorado)
December 4, 2021 at
8:12 pm
And another Bruce
seconds all that! Maybe Will has some professional thoughts about the need for,
or not, Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir expansion?
Bob Michael (Colorado)
December 6, 2021 at
2:19 pm
Shocking photos, and
badly needed. It would be great if your terrific reporting could go out to a
broader audience.
Karen Mohr (Colorado)
December 11, 2021 at
7:08 pm
Another graphic and
informative illustration of the dire situation we’re facing.
Charmaine Settle
(Florida)
December 11, 2021 at
8:38 pm
Another great article
from Will Mahoney! The pictures taken were also fabulous and really
hit home regarding the urgent nature of this situation. Keep ’em coming….so
appreciated!
David Brown
(California)
December 12, 2021 at
5:47 am
Thanks once more for your informative..worth a
thousand words…photo journalistic offerings. We Californians have been seeing
our reservoirs shrivel up, too. A wake up call to long term planners
everywhere.
Andrew Wolcott
(Uruguay)
December 12, 2021 at
6:04 am
Thanks for the Info
Will, seems a world trend. Here in Uruguay in the “mountains” the water table
is dropping in the valleys, river flows down and wetlands drying up just a few
days after a 4.3 inch rain. Normally they stay wet all the time except a month
or two in exceptionally dry years. Much aquatic breeding habitat being lost.
What impact do the reservoirs themselves have on the Gunnison River?
David Herrington
(Texas)
December 12, 2021 at
11:26 am
Great article from
Will! His article should be front page news everywhere in the west, as this is
the same story, just a different location. Will we wake up too late? I look
forward to Will’s next article….David
Hugh (Ireland)
December 13, 2021 at
11:07 am
Great article! Agreed,
the Snow gods are having a long nap! Observing and reporting on the situation
is a good beginning, so thank you Will for shining a light on this catastrophe.
Perhaps it is the people of the planet who need to awaken from their slumber
and realise that nature is not our servant, and that we need to reassess our
expectations and plan accordingly.
Maryanne Jerome
(Colorado)
December 13, 2021 at
12:03 pm
This situation is
really, really serious, and only getting worse. We have got to start
publicizing how destructive it is for our human population to keep growing. We
must reduce the birth rate as Mother Nature is making clear.
Lester Swindle (New
Mexico)
December 13, 2021 at
4:56 pm
Well
written/documented and frightening!
We are all better-off to learn about our earth from writers/photojournalist like
Will and his partner, Judy. Please
continue this necessary work.
Chris Mohr (Colorado)
December 15, 2021 at
11:41 am
Yikes! Hard to imagine
what will happen in the next twenty years. This whole series of articles are so
easy to understand, so undeniable, it’s all out there in the open, Lordy the LA
Times needs to pick this up!
© Will Mahoney 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this blog post nor any associated photo can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the author and photographer.
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