LETTER: Keeping the water flowing

According to news releases from the Bureau of Reclamation, the upper Colorado River compact states have agreed to and are releasing 500,000 acre-feet of water from the reservoir at Flaming Gorge Dam to supplement the Lake Powell reservoir and maintain a water level necessary for power generation at Glen Canyon Dam through 2023. This is good news for the people dependent on hydropower from Hoover Dam, as the water used by the generators at Glen Canyon Dam will flow into Lake Mead.

Unfortunately, normal hydropower generation at Hoover Dam takes more water than at Glen Canyon, and there are questions as to whether runoff into Flaming Gorge reservoir will be adequate in future years to allow transfers such as the current one. We still need some way to get more and sustained water flow into the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. I hope it comes from excess water currently in northern rivers.