Blub . . . Blub . . . Blub - Powell @ 45% Of Capacity, Snowmelt Helping, But Still Down 109 Feet

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The falling water level has delivered up hidden treasures, the natural arches and narrow side canyons not seen in years. Perhaps the most spectacular is the Cathedral in the Desert, a multi-coloured sandstone arch forming a huge natural amphitheatre, with a waterfall lit by narrow beams of sunlight. In parts of the lake, new islands have emerged and old ones have become towering sandstone pillars. Shores once underwater are now lined with new beaches while old ones, left high above the waterline, are bristling with plants.

Ed. - Cathedral in the Desert, from Before.








As the water levels dropped, some of the boating arteries linking different parts of the lake could only be kept open by cutting through the rock. Erin Janicki, an aquatic biologist, has watched the change from the water’s edge. The town of Page, Arizona was built to house workers constructing the dam that flooded Glen Canyon. Janicki lives in one of the original houses, a stone’s throw from the lake. For nine years, she has seen the water rise and fall, but says the overall trend is down.

“The water’s 110ft below the top of bathtub ring,” she said. “There are parts of the lake that have pretty much become mud flats. The inlets get silted up. It takes longer to jet around the lake because some of the waterways aren’t open and you have to go around obstacles. “There’s still a lot of water out there, but there’s been a big change. People hit rock islands all the time.”

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But after 15 years of diminishing snow falls on the Rockies, the US government agency managing the Colorado river’s water, the Bureau of Reclamation, is now facing a difficult balancing act as levels in both lakes sink to record lows and rationing looms. “We all are depending on the snow pack on the Rockies and Lake Powell is the first reservoir,” said Rose Davis of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado region. “It doesn’t look very good. We have 56% of normal snowpack is the last reading that I saw. It’s just terrible.” The fall in water levels in Lake Mead are as dramatic as those in Lake Powell. It has dropped from over 90% of capacity in 2000 to less than 40%. In April, the water in Lake Mead fell to its lowest level since 1937 when it was still being filled after construction of the Hoover dam. “We are at a record low and we expect to drop even lower in the summer months,” said Davis.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/17/lake-powell-drought-colorado-river