Lake Powell officials face an impossible choice in the West’s megadrought: water or electricity
Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, is drying up. The situation is critical: If water levels at the lake were to drop another 32 feet, all hydroelectricity production would be halted at the reservoir’s Glen Canyon Dam. The West’s climate change-induced water crisis is now triggering a potential energy crisis for millions of people in the Southwest who rely on the dam as a power source. Over the past several years, the Glen Canyon Dam has lost about 16% of its capacity to generate power. The water levels at Lake Powell have dropped around 100 feet in the last three years.
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