Time to tear down Glen Canyon Dam?

Should Glen Canyon Dam be torn down?

  • Yes

    Votes: 30 78.9%

  • No

    Votes: 8 21.1%
  • Total voters
    38
You forgot everything is covered in silt, pretty deep.......with global warming it won't wash out and uncover anything soon. Any ruins / art will be buried.
 
People need to think Big Picture. Not tomorrow, next year, or 200 years. Mother Nature doesn't hurry nor does she care what we think. It's not all about us.
I guess I don't see the issue as anthropocentric as many others do.
 
Well if you honestly look at the really big picture then it doesn't matter if we tear it down today or in 200 years does it?
 
I'd like to see them pursue the thought of having Lake Mead full without the Glen Canyon dam...will that help the southwest's water issues?
 
if a full Lake Mead is an answer or at least a major contributor to water shortage issues, then it should be done.
keeping Lake Powell because it's fun to drive a boat on...sorry that shouldn't be the reason.
 
I totally agree, but the counter-argument to that (aside from the decimation of the recreation industry), is that the dam could no longer provide electricity. I'd really like to see a new lower high water mark established as a sort of middle ground compromise. That way the boaters can still have fun, the turbines can still spin and some of the canyons can truly recover.
 
A while back I found some information and a chart showing all the minimum elevations for the Glen Canyon Dam like minimum power pool and dead pool elevations. Now I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know where that info can be located?
 
It wasn't built for recreation.

It is for water storage for the Upper Basin states of the Colorado River Compact (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico). That specifies that the Upper Basin states are to provide a minimum annual flow of 7,500,000 acre feet to the Lower Basin states (Arizona, Nevada, and California). That's because they were taking water from a uncontrolled Colorado. Lake Mead is just additional storage....

Recreation was secondary, but has morphed into big business.
 
How can a reservoir downstream and far away help a state like Wyoming or Colorado store water? Serious question. Even Utah for that matter.
 
Nick said:
How can a reservoir downstream and far away help a state like Wyoming or Colorado store water? Serious question. Even Utah for that matter.
Click to expand...

They can meet their required release of water (controlled by the dam and reservoir) while still taking needed water from further upstream.
 
No, no question, those upper states have to give up a certain volume (water rights of the lower states)....guaranteed to the lower states as well. Then you have the upper states as needing water as well. So in leaner years, water storage behind dams supplies everyone....in theory. Recreation was never in the mix in the beginning.

Same happens in the urban environment...farmers get the water before you get to water your lawn...if not enough your lawn goes.
 
Probably so.... E Washington, Oregon are not far behind
 
Interesting stuff.

I have been convinced that the area would eventually recover, but I still don't know if I think it's a good idea.

I still think there are more pressing issues we should be concerned with than draining Powell. For example additional dams that they want to construct along the Bear River.
 
I don't know about the proposed dams on the Bear, but I will say that I don't think all dams are bad at all. I'd happily approve 1,000 dams like Deer Creek, Pineview, Jordanelle, etc. to restore Glen Canyon. That place was truly unique, like no place else on earth and so rich in ancient history and world class scenery. Using a place like that for water storage is no different than doing it to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or Yosemite. The only difference is it was so remote that no one knew it well enough to say no before it was too late. The longer it waits, the longer it will take to recover. Doesn't get much more pressing than that, in my opinion.
 
Kind of interesting vid:

 
Supposedly these areas do recover pretty quickly. Of course, the lower the area, the more sediment has accumulated, and the longer it'll take to drain. But it's absolutely the right thing to do. Lake Powell serves absolutely no purpose and is a bane to one of the greatest natural treasures in the west, the Colorado Plateau.
 
Much more silt accumulates in the shallows at the backs of canyons and where the rivers come in than in the lower/deeper parts. Too bad it isn't the other way around, the dam would already be inundated.
 
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