Lake Powell
|
| Facts |
|---|
| Start of storage | March 13, 1963 |
| Completion of initial filling | June 22, 1980 |
| Elevation | 1,127 (3,700 ft) |
| Volume | 26.5 km³ (21,505,000 acre.feet) |
| Surface area | 1627 km² (102.88 mile²) |
| Length | 299 km (186 miles) |
| Width | 40 km (25 miles) |
| Shoreline | 3,057 km (1,900 miles) |
| Maximum depth | 170 m (560 ft) |
| Mean depth | 40 m (132 ft) |
Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border betweeen Utah and Arizona. It was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the controversial Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular summer destination. The reservoir is named for explorer John Wesley Powell, a one-armed American Civil War veteran who explored the river via two wooden boats in 1869.
History
The filling of the reservoir began in 1963. It reached "official fill" (full capacity) in 1980. More recently, however, several years of drought have reduced it to less than half its capacity. In 2004, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area had to close four of its six boat launching facilities, as the receding water left them high and dry.
Geology
Lake Powell straddles the transition elevation between Kayenta Sandstone and Navajo Sandstone. This transition, with the different qualities of the sandstone, provides the basis for many of the geographic oddities in the region.
Features
The lake's main body stretches up Glen Canyon, but has also filled many (over 50) side canyons. The lake also stretches up the Escalante River and San Juan River where they merge into the main Colorado River. This provides access to many natural geographic points of interest as well as some remnants of the Anasazi culture.
- Rainbow Bridge National Monument
- Fort Defiance
- Cathedral in the Desert (completely flooded by the filling of the reservoir, but now beginning to re-emerge as the water level drops)
- San Juan goosenecks
- Kaiparowitz Plateau
- Hole-in-the-Rock crossing
- the Rincon
Development
Because most of the lake is surrounded by steep sandstone walls, access to the lake is limited to developed marinas:
- Page/Wahweap Marina
- Lees Ferry Subdistrict
- Dangling Rope Marina
- Rainbow Bridge National Monument
- Escalante Subdistrict
- Halls Crossing Marina
- Bullfrog Marina
- Hite Marina
Dangling Rope, Rainbow Bridge, and Escalante are accessible only by boat.
The lake draws over 2,000,000 visitors annually. Recreational activities include boating, fishing, waterskiing, jet-skiing, and cliff-jumping. Prepared campgrounds can be found at each marina, but many visitors choose to rent a houseboat or bring their own camping equipment, find a secluded spot somewhere in the canyons, and make their own camp (there are no restrictions on where visitors can stay).
Controversy
When several dams were proposed for the Colorado River in the 1950s, the Sierra Club opposed the plan, but a compromise was reached when the plan was reduced to the Glen Canyon Dam. In hindsight, environmentalists greatly regret this compromise, and continue to call for the decommissioning of the dam and the draining of Lake Powell. They contend, for example, that the adverse impact on the Grand Canyon has been greater than was foreseen when the dam was built.
Proponents of the lake's current status point to the economic impact of thousands of visitors each year, as well as the cheap hydroelectric power derived from the dam. No state or national office has given any consideration or resources toward planning a decommissioning.
