The federal government is taking steps to protect power and water supplies on the Colorado River

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 U.S.

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 a few days ago.