The water level on the Colorado River is nearing a dangerously low tipping point, according to US government data, with hydroelectric power stations facing the previously-unthinkable prospect of turning off in the coming months.
In 24-month projections recently released by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, the agency predicts that Lake Powell, which is held back by the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, will reach the minimum depth at which the dam can generate electricity, 485 feet, by July of 2023.
At that depth, the surface of the water will be so close to the water intake tubes that draw lake water into the dam that it will begin to form a whirlpool, which could destroy the electricity-generating turbines inside the dam. Its eight turbines, which produce 1,320 megawatts of power, will be forced to turn off, and water flowing downstream in the Colorado River will slow to a trickle.
For another dam downstream, the Hoover Dam, the predictions are less dire, with no forecasts bringing the water level within 30 feet of the minimum depth in the next two years.
Still, the state of the Colorado River is dire. The 1,450-mile-long river is the most important waterway in the region, serving roughly 10% of the US population, and providing water and power to cities like Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona, and to the Navajo Nation. It also supports regional recreation industries, including trout fishing and boating.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced earlier this year it would investigate modifying the Glen Canyon Dam to allow water release at lower levels, which would likely include drilling tunnels through the canyon’s rock walls.
Causing the water shortage is a drought, the likes of which the region hasn’t seen since the 9th Century CE, when a “megadrought” helped drive the Classical Mayan civilization into collapse.