Posted on May 5, 2022
Drought imperils hydropower on Colorado River's reservoirs
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The Department of the Interior announced this week that it was taking unprecedented steps on the Colorado River to protect the power and water supplies for millions of people in the Western United States.
If the water level at the country's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, drops about another 30 feet, the Glen Canyon Dam will be unable to create hydroelectric power.
Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd visited Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border and saw just how far the water has fallen.
If the water level at the country's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, drops about another 30 feet, the Glen Canyon Dam will be unable to create hydroelectric power.
Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd visited Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border and saw just how far the water has fallen.
Drought imperils hydropower on Colorado River's reservoirs
Posted from wbur.org
Department of the Interior
Energy
Water
Natural Disaster
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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I see a return to the water wars that existed before the Glen Canyon Dam was built coming down the road.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel ..."Millions of people will feel the effects if power generation stops at Glen Canyon Dam.
The Navajo Nation gets about 40% of its power from the Colorado River.
Like other utilities across the West, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is preparing for a future with less hydropower. That means building more solar-power generation and shifting to more expensive and dirtier forms of electricity in the meantime.
That’s something 43,000 customers on the Navajo Nation can’t afford, says NTUA’s Srinivasa Venigalla.
“It’s going to be everybody in the Southwest that’s going to be impacted,” he says. “Everyone has to bear the burden, in my opinion, if we can’t produce any hydropower from the dams on the Colorado River."
The Navajo Nation gets about 40% of its power from the Colorado River.
Like other utilities across the West, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is preparing for a future with less hydropower. That means building more solar-power generation and shifting to more expensive and dirtier forms of electricity in the meantime.
That’s something 43,000 customers on the Navajo Nation can’t afford, says NTUA’s Srinivasa Venigalla.
“It’s going to be everybody in the Southwest that’s going to be impacted,” he says. “Everyone has to bear the burden, in my opinion, if we can’t produce any hydropower from the dams on the Colorado River."
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