As Rockies snows melt, Lake Powell rises
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 8, 2008
PAGE, Ariz. – At Lake Powell, the canyon-hemmed gem on the Utah-Arizona border, it's all about flakes.
The 186-mile-long reservoir is the country's second-largest water tank (Lake Mead in nearby Nevada is the largest), storing runoff from the Rockies until it's needed for pools and putting greens downstream. In wet years, the pond fills. In dry years, it drops.
With the West wheezing through a lingering drought, the surface of this sapphire-blue jewel has dipped to levels not seen since Richard Nixon was president.
It's flakes to the rescue.
Last winter, storms dumped mounds of powder on the Rocky Mountain West, treating skiers to the best season in years. As that snowpack melts, officials expect the lake's surface to shoot to 2002 heights.
That means that around mid-June, the Castle Rock Cut should reopen, allowing boaters to cut a dozen miles off up-lake distances.
With houseboats averaging a mile per gallon, the round-trip fuel savings alone could cover a prime steak dinner.
The cut also will chop two hours off the tour time to Rainbow Bridge, the world's largest natural sandstone span.
The rapidly rising lake also will help mitigate the tamarisk scourge. Native to the Middle East, these invasive, house-high weeds have proved hard to kill. Drowning waters will transform the beach- and stream-clogging aliens into new habitat for the lake's fish, which include striped, largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as black crappie and walleye.
There are, of course, downsides to rising water.
Levels can jump 24 inches in 24 hours, meaning marinas must constantly be readjusted. Beaches laid when the lake was low will disappear, and replacements may not form until summer rains deposit new sediment. Also, features formerly above the surface may lie submerged and unmarked, increasing opportunities for hull-whacking encounters.
On the positive side, increasing water means more surface area. Traffic will spread out, and boaters should experience less congestion and fewer tight spots. Small bays will open, peninsulas will become islands and inlets will widen and go deeper.
Contact: www.lakepowell .com.
Dan Leeth is a Colorado freelance writer.