04/22/2026
Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) announced emergency measures to prop up the elevation of Lake Powell reservoir.
“Federal officials are taking matters into their own hands here,” reports Alex Hager who covers water for member station . “They are taking a huge amount of water from a different reservoir upstream [Flaming Gorge Reservoir] and sending it down to Powell. They are also ratcheting back the amount of water that gets sent out of Lake Powell into the Grand Canyon and towards cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.”
Are these changes enough to prevent Glen Canyon Dam from failing? GCI’s Eric Balken sees BOR’s action as “a Band-Aid solution for a gaping wound. It’s a short term measure that does not get at the root of the problem, which is overconsumption of water.”
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