The Real Reason Glen Canyon Dam Was Built

The Glen Canyon Dam, much like Hetch Hetchy, is an extremely contentious and controversial project. There’s a growing movement in support of the Glen Canyon Dam Removal altogether. With the specter of climate change looming, those calls may grow louder. But whether or not you agree with that decision, there’s a lot to be learned from the history of the dam’s construction.
Glen Canyon before Lake Powell was a veritable sandstone cathedral. As it wound its way through Southern Utah, Glen Canyon’s numerous side canyons, nooks, and crannies were home to countless plants and animals, as well as the priceless artifacts of Ancestral Puebloans.
But after the Glen Canyon dam construction, this area was flooded under Lake Powell, becoming part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
These two states, Glen Canyon with the dam and Glen Canyon without it, lie at the heart of the controversy surrounding it. A controversy that asks difficult questions about the role we expect natural places to play in our lives. This video helps you understand these issues and the circumstances which led to them.
You can check out my video on Hetch Hetchy here: • How San Francisco Stol...
Also, Special thanks to @Our Weird America for some of the footage used in this episode!
National Park Diaries is now on PATREON. You can support the channel here: / nationalparkdiaries

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Hello all. It has come to my attention that the term "Anasazi" is out of date, and that the term "Ancestral Puebloan" is preferred. My apologies for the oversight.

[@christianeaster2776]

Yeah, ananizi is a Navajo word meaning ancient enemy. The Navajo and Apache came into the southwest from the north about 1100 or 1200 CE. They had to fight the Puebloan natives fo territory.

[@carlatamanczyk3891]

I think you environmental people really need to learn critical thinking and reasoning enough to realize what it would mean if we do everything you really want. Many of us know your true agenda. We would all have to live like the Flintstones back 1,000 years in time Or would you elitists still have your private jets and huge redwood lodges while just the peasants would be forced to go back 1,000 years ?

[@TheEngineerd]

@@carlatamanczyk3891 "I think you environmental people really need to learn critical thinking and reasoning" You first. "We would all have to live like the Flintstones back 1,000 years in time" A great example of the slippery slope fallacy. "Or would you elitists still have your private jets and huge redwood lodges while just the peasants would be forced to go back 1,000 years ?" This channel has 956 subscribers on youtube, 156 followers on Instagram, and you think the person(s) behind the channel are millionaires? Which if that were even true, how is that relevant?

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"the term "Anasazi" is out of date" Naturally. And in a year or three its successor will also be out of date. Since pretty much everyone understands "Anasazi" that's a word I will keep using. Still, its nice to know yet another name by which a population can be labeled.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@carlatamanczyk3891 "I think you environmental people really need to learn critical thinking and reasoning" Not going to happen. This kind is emotional and those emotions are very powerful and rule until their bellies are growling with hunger. Then watch out.

[@morganwagoner181]

Scientists knew in 1922 that the water the law makers were allocating didn’t exist. E.C.LaRue was the head hydrologist and he attempted to correct the numbers the law makers were using, but the compromises they would have had to make proved too difficult, and thus they used numbers they could agree on, not numbers provided by their own scientists. It’s important as the basin goes into the 2026 renegotiations to remember that it was the politically difficult reality that caused the over allocation in the first, in hopes we don’t repeat the same mistakes this go-round.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

That's a good point - one I didn't touch on too much in the video. Politics is an inherent part of these projects and has to be factored in to any discussion.

[@okboomer6201]

Lawmakers have always been clueless, greedy bastards.

[@jeffbybee5207]

Why does it say 3 reply and there is just one?

[@heyby8764]

Ya we won't just listen to the science right lol COVID-19.

[@Broockle]

I would be interested in the history of development of Arizona and Nevada. I assume not including the American Indian tribes that reside there it was almost completely devoid of European descendant life. Like did we really need big cities in these areas? Couldn't everyone just move to California? 🤣 If you split states up like that then everyone will want to build a city or 2 in their land. I think the mistake began there, while drawing the state lines.

[@FreedomToRoam86]

Dinosaur National Monument was saved not just by environmental groups, but also by hunters and fisherman coming together to preserve it.

[@jeremyday9056]

I just found this channel. How did I not know it existed before? This content is the kind of stuff I live for. I'm so glad that someone out there is making videos like this. I have visited nearly 200 different National Park Service units and it is so amazing to get the full stories on these places that we have come to know and love. I actually just visited Glen Canyon NRA a couple months ago, which is what led me to this content.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Welcome to the community, we're glad to have you! 200 units is impressive - way more than me lol! I'm glad you're enjoying the stories and there are more to come. I appreciate the support!

[@philtucker1224]

I’m amazed that one of your friends hadn’t recommended it to you Jerry?

[@bryanjensen300]

read the Monkey Wrench Gang

[@anthonynelson9136]

Even with the water shortage, big companies are still building huge facilities around the Phoenix area. The Phoenix residents still flood irrigate their grass yards with 8 to 10 inches of water twice a month from water that comes from the Colorado River. The problem will continue to get worse. The population of the Phoenix metro area is 5 million with more coming every day. In the next 10 years, you won't be able to give the homes away out in the Phoenix suburbs because of the lack of water.

[@xaviermillar9375]

I find this stampede of people moving to Phoenix baffling. Have these people not heard of climate warming or do they think it’s a hoax by the left-wing media? I live no where near Phoenix but even I know that it’s rapid growth is unsustainable and that it could become virtually unliveable in the near future due to rising temperatures, to the extent that being outside for too long on a hot summer day may prove deadly. But it’s a great place to raise a family.

[@johnluiten3686]

Flood irrigation is limited and grandfathered. Most all newer residential Phx does not have this ability. It is also arguable whether this uses less water that daily sprinkling, since such irrigation is twice a month. That being said, there is an unnatural insistence on greenery and grass lawns as vs desert (native) landscaping.

[@johnluiten3686]

@@xaviermillar9375 Well, the temperature is rising due to urban heat sink effect from city buildings, and that is noticeable at night mostly. Daytime highs have not noticeably increased, nor will a global warming increase of say 1.5C be more than a blip for Phx dwellers. A/C keeps folks comfortable and will do so into the foreseeable future. Nothing predicted wrt global warming will change that, nor does global warming theory predict/cause the current drought. Lengthy droughts have been recorded in the Sonoran desert from the geologic record lasting hundreds of years. The shortage of water will affect the residents last. Before such rationing, farming will cease, then certain industries. Phx residential water use is over double the second largest city, Tucson. There is much that can be conserved should rationing be implemented. Prior to the CAP water from the Colorado, Phx had separate river water *and* ground water. Those resources remain. People are not going anywhere simply because it is better to live in a warm climate than a cold one-all things being equal.

[@anthonynelson9136]

@@johnluiten3686 What newer residental Phoenix? There haven't really been any residential housing developments in Phoenix in 30 years. Everything now is being built in the suburbs and those houses all have desert landscaping, not grass lawns. The point I guess I should have been more clear about is that all the houses in Phoenix that have flood irrigation should half to switch to desert-type landscaping because the water-saving would be enormous.

[@johnluiten3686]

@@anthonynelson9136 The reply has to take into account the metro area of course. But Phx has expanded, and jumps some of the nearer mountain ranges. Those are not the old Phx, “central”, were irrigation ditches were run along roadways to residential housing. As I said, the aspect of flood irrigation vs sprinklers is problematic. The problem is water hungry landscaping, not necessarily how the water gets there. You could zone areas to be non-grass, or water savings, but I suspect the politics involved will make that the last thing they’d consider.

[@RichtorLazlo]

So when I was a kid late 70’s early 80’s, I knew a guy named Frank Wright. Frank was the foremost amateur archaeologist and explorer of the glen canyon , Grand Canyon and the Colorado basin areas, he knew and worked with a lot of the academics like Powell that worked in those areas, he had 8mm, films hours of it that was in glen canyon before the dam, the natural and historical treasures that was there was nothing short of amazing. One film I seen showed a flat bottom boat on the Colorado river in that glen canyon area, the boat was motored and the river went right in to a cliff face and the boat kept going in to this huge cavern that was by my guess about 200 feet across and probably 50 feet tall from the water level, no shore in the cave and pictographs all over the walls and celling. I asked him why he did not doing anything with these films and he would tell us that Disney actually owned them and didn’t know he had copies and he wanted to keep it that way. What we have lost is terrible. He died years ago not even sure when but he was born turn of the century late 1800’s.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Man, I bet those would be incredible to see!

[@bohabdestructo7489]

You should investigate if the films still exist and procure them. Make a thousand copies and then distribute them to as many people as possible telling them to make copies of their own. With shit tons of copies around disney won't be able to make it disappear. The internet is being placed inside a permitted area. Outside information will be deleted including any information about our true history.

[@danbev8542]

I have a coffee table book of Glen Canyon before the dam. (I believe it’s called ‘The Place No One Knew’ by Elliot Porter.) It is heartbreaking to look at it, knowing everything in it is drowned. For those with fond memories of the lake, I believe the river with its natural ecosystem and wildlife would have been infinitely more enriching and beautiful. I believe the river had much more gentle current suitable for amateurs to paddle. The Grand Canyon with its huge rapids is a fantastic experience, but one needs much more skill and support to go down it. Just found this quote from the back cover: “Remember these things lost. The native wildlife; the chance to float quietly down a calm river, to let the current carry you past a thousand years of history, through a living canyon of incredible, haunting beauty. Here the Colorado had created a display that rivaled any in the world. The side canyons simply had no rivals. We lost wholeness, integrity in place . . . a magnificent gesture of the natural world." --David Brower

[@iTokyoDemon]

Way to sell frank out

[@kingboagart899]

@@iTokyoDemon heard this story like half a dozen times now, always a different old guys name.

[@Beregorn88]

"does the benefits outweigh the costs?" is always such a tricky questions, since most of the times who pays the costs doesn't reap any of the benefits...

[@craigb8228]

There are actually very few things today that actually simplified life like a washer.

[@VeraStinson]

When I was in college, we studies the water issues in the west. The book. “Cadillac Desert” was the book we had to read in addition to other course materials. It lays out this very scenario and the outlook is dismal.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Great book. Definitely a must read for anyone interested in these issues.

[@Greg-yu4ij]

Someday we will drain the Reservoir, when we start condensing water from air and desalinating ocean water. Till then, people depend on that water. The planet has innumerable beauties

[@BornIn1500]

Of course. A college's outlook will ALWAYS be dismal so then they can say "you need to pay for our degree so you can help sAvE tHe wOrLd". They're selling their own services when they claim the sky is falling.

[@johyuujin3079]

this reminds me of the time my 3 kids "dammed" the Colorado River with rocks in the river. It was way, way upstream where it was less than a foot deep and maybe 15 feet wide. that must have been more than 20 years ago. I'd guess the dam is long gone by now.

[@mcfaddenhall2896]

@Zac's DIY Guns Ouch.

[@whiskeybuilder6335]

In a couple years you'll be lucky to find a spot anywhere that's still 15 feet wide.🥺

[@LividImp]

Maybe your kids accidentally "damned" the river instead, cursing us with this permanent drought.

[@charleshardman2222]

As a Utah resident throughout the 90's, I watched as The Stillwaters,Flaming Gorge, Lake Powell, Jordanelle and many other lakes of The C.U.P. filled in record time. That should have been a clue that they can empty in record time as well. Say a prayer for Powell. Or make a plan for the refugees from Phoenix!

[@vinnynj78]

Well, dammit all over again

[@horatiohornblower3757]

It's a big problem in the sense that without these dams many of the larger cities in the southwest could not exist. Honestly, I'm surprised desalination plants aren't popping up by the dozens on the California coast. Yeah, it's expensive... but if you honestly care about the plants and animals it's something that needs to be done. But, for the most part people will say how evil it is that we dammed this river destroying habitats, while happily using the water and power generated by these same dams and would very quickly realize how dire the situation would be without them if they were torn down.

[@MyBelch]

What about the insects and lizards that live where the desalinization plants are proposed to be built? Probably easier to move the millions of invasive humans. Kalifornia karma.

[@horatiohornblower3757]

@@MyBelch I agree, we should all huddle in caves because all places on earth are a native biome that would be potentially inhabited by some animals. The spot where my house is built could have held a rabbit burrow and deer den instead of my house. I'm awful. Actually, us living in caves and using fires to keep the place warm would perhaps cause them to be unhabitable by some of the wildlife that would actually live there if we weren't there. So better yet, we should kill all of humanity because us existing as a species at all effects too many other creatures. True conservation of Earth.

[@Razgriz__1]

The problem is that desalination is so expensive as to be completely unprofitable, and there will never be desalination plants unless companies see a profit in it or the government subsidizes the fuck out of it.

[@Xander-dx6mw]

The largest and most efficient desalinization plant in the world can produce a gallon of potable water for about 20 cents. If you use 5 CCF's (750 gallons) of water monthly like most U S. homes, your water bill (not sewer portion which is typically twice the price if water) would be $800 a month. Saudi oil essentially subsidizes Saudi drinking water.

[@MyBelch]

@@Xander-dx6mw you don't need potable water to shower or flush toilets.

[@efjefe]

I use to live in page and was a river guide on the river. Ive been at the bottom of the dam many many times. Its pretty awesome. If you ever go there you realize how remote that area is.

[@atthebrink74]

I used to fish Lee’s Ferry, awesome place.

[@TheLittlered1961]

I have been to the top of the dam, not the bottom. The whole area, at least when I was there was very remote. Very few people would visit the area if it were not for the dam. He is worried about the ruins that were covered by the lake. AZ is covered with such ruins by the ANASAZI, I hate when people start using politically correct language. I have been all over AZ and seen them. Parks and in the back desert using 4x4s. Phoenix, at least when I lived there, was using irrigation canals that were over a thousand years old. My point is, "you can not build if a thousand years ago somebody else lived there?" The lake may have destroyed habitat for some animals. On the other hand it created habitat for others. It was a net zero for destruction verses creation at worst. We took the beaver model and made it bigger. The SW has a sine curve for water. When I lived there the precipitation was very high, late 70's, early 80's. We were flooding. Glenn Canyon was shedding water at an amazing rate, same with Hoover. These dams were made to flatten the curve. Should have seen Phoenix and the flooding they had back then. Now they are in a drought. Why did the Anasazi leave the land? Maybe because of a drought even worse than today? What I got from the video is that this person is happy with solar farms. Bulldoze millions of acres for power and destroy even more land to produce even less energy. Have a better idea. Let's build bird choppers and kill off raptors.

[@atthebrink74]

@@TheLittlered1961 nailed it! 👍🏼

[@lkajiess]

@@TheLittlered1961 I grew up in Page and there are always going to be tons of people driving through the area doing the grand circle (GC, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Black Canyon, Mesa Verde). Glen Canyon is managed by the Park Service too so they could easily develop more hiking infrastructure to some of the more interesting areas that are now uncovered. Also, Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon have become massively popular over the years. Page can easily survive if they focus on more hiking, biking, Kayaking and 4wheeling.

[@TheLittlered1961]

@@lkajiess I do not doubt in what you have said. I went through there in about 1975/76. I was on the "dam'" elevator. The one that takes you to the generating plant. I saw the bolts that they used to stabilize the rock on the outer edges of the dam. My parents took me through there to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion. My point was, would this have happened if the dam was not there? This was a short cut for AZ and many places in NM to get to the places you have mentioned. As I stated before, would this place be so popular if it were not for the dam?

[@rogerwilco2]

I don't understand how something like that compact would be fixed for a century. In my country there would be a governing structure for the entire watershed that would manage the whole area and continually update their ideas and models.

[@caseycooper5615]

I'd say it's even worse than you said. Floyd Dominy, Reclamation's most well known administrator (hero or villain, you pick) called Glen Canyon Dam a "cash register dam." The idea was to generate hydroelectricity to create revenue to build other projects, such as the dams in the Grand Canyon. The other purpose was to impound silt to extend the life of Lake Mead. By design, Lake Powell is a sacrificial lamb. Water storage was tertiary, at best. In fact, I understand more water evaporates from Lake Powell than is actually taken from it. Now it's time to pay the piper. Seems they shut down the Navajo Generating Station a little too soon, although we are better off without all the pollutants it spewed out. The real tragedy is the loss of Glen Canyon. My science teacher from high school got to pass through it as a teen in 1957. He told us it was every bit as stunning as the Grand Canyon, and a piece of him died when they impounded Lake Powell. BTW, John Wesley Powell must also be turning in his grave knowing his beloved canyon is filled with water and silt. Removing the dam makes sense, and nature almost did it for us in 1982. At the very least, bore a new spillway to allow water to flow through. After all, outside of the the lower lake levels, the silt building up is building up fast, so it will lose its use for hydroelectricity in a couple of decades, regardless. In response to the recreational access it provides, I quote the Sierra Club's campaign against the Grand Canyon dams, "Would you flood the Sistine Chapel to be nearer the ceiling? "

[@danbev8542]

@ Casey, Everything I know about the dam, and the environment makes me agree with you completely. Many of my friends work in various science and environmental groups…they called the Glen Canyon Dam an Ecological Atrocity. The desert is not just a barren wasteland, to be filled up - it is an important and valuable environment in its own right.

[@suppeeps5393]

Man you can't even compare Glen canyon to the Grand canyon no comparison not even close Grand Canyon is massive compared to the Glen

[@hornet224]

Mother nature will reclaim the Colorado River over time. The dam is temporary.

[@terraboundmisfit]

I live in Bulhead city AZ just a 2 minute drive from the most beautiful river I have ever seen. I have taken it for granted. I, like so many others are very concerned about the current drought situation. Thank you for a great video. I had no clue.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thank you for watching! These issues are tough and complicated and I don't presume to have all the answers, but with folks like you engaging in topics like this, I think we can find a better way forward.

[@richardstaples8621]

I read Mark Riesner's monumental book 'Cadillac Desert' about 30 years ago. As an Australian who has been involved in public water policy since then it gave me a useful perspective on why we do such things to rivers. Many of the dilemmas you face in the US are shared in other places around the planet.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Read that this year myself. So important and helpful for understanding these issues.

[@fallinginthed33p]

@@NationalParkDiaries Desert Solitaire is another great book on the region, even if it's more of a personal rant and barely-edited journal. Ed Abbey's anger at Glen Canyon's drowning still resonates.

[@chriscohlmeyer4735]

When I first "saw" this dam, the diversion tunnel was recently put into service with the coffer dam diverting the flow. The lower former river bed had been cleaned to bedrock and the initial cement pours were just starting.

[@talisikid1618]

What a sad sight.

[@patriot9455]

Deciding after the fact that "they" misestimated the effect is a problem. Do the dams get torn down, and the people who rely on that water have to move after their property values reach zero has massive social and economic consequences to the nation. Leaving the dams in place has shown economic consequences as well, positive and negative. The environmental effects of what has been done may not ever be undone by opening the flow. Taking out the dam or dams will not "bring back what was lost", it will create a new and different effect all along the river. It is not "do we want to undo the damage", it is "what will the net long term effect be" whichever way we go.

[@leeisrael7974]

K

[@andrewbowlgarte4738]

Not true , just your blind opinion , nature will always revert back

[@ntdscherer]

The bottom of that lake must resemble a landfill at this point.

[@OzarksMitch]

Oddly enough, there's plenty of water for the population size living in the American southwest. It's the cotton, almond, alfalfa farms that use 80-93% of the water.

[@liampurvis2477]

We took a two hundred year old dam out by me and within days eel and herring were spawning where they hadn't in centuries. Nothing ever is the same but Nature can bounce back fast.

[@rosesandthorns47]

I remember swimming in the red water of the Colorado as a kid before the dam. The water was red and silky.

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

Here in California, water is liquid gold. Much of the water has been used to grow America’s fruit and vegetables(along with the Central Valley aquifer). It’s hard to make a case for these dams not being crucial for the US as a whole. The environmental cost has been enormously high, but so have the benefits. Recreation seems like such a minor reason to build a dam. Irrelevant in a world where the SouthWest is running out of water.

[@joshlower1]

We can grow our food without California it's cool

[@Unsound_advice]

We as a nation have to change our dietary habits back to being “seasonal” consumers and not count on the west, that isn’t “running out” of water, it simply expanded past its natural sustainable size.

[@roqclimber]

Real Estate developers were keenly aware that Phoenix had overbuilt, even in the 1970's. But there was money to be made! Currently there are several Phoenix adjacent towns that are being cut off. They can't hire the local Water hauling company to bring them water, because the water hauler is no longer allowed to buy Phoenix water. The Phoenix water table has been dropping for 50 years, also causing adjacent cities to drill deeper to hit water too.

[@element5377]

on essentially an infinite number of planets throughout the universe, there are staggeringly beautiful landscapes to be seen by nothing and nobody. the value of them here is that humans and other lifeforms exist to see them. both are essential.

[@wannabetowasabe]

Sorry for my disjointed thought process. Many don't know that two dams were proposed in the Grand Canyon, but in what was only Grand Canyon National MONUMENT at the time. One at Marble Canyon, just upstream from the Little Colorado River confluence and one that was to flood the lower portion of Grand Canyon with the upper slack water of its reservoir reaching upward to the boundary of the park portion of "the canyon." I've seen the surveyor's markings for the Marble Canyon proposal on the rocks at the canyon's bottom. It's all part of the National Park now, none of this monument nonsense.

[@caseycooper5615]

Reclamation also assured that no one could see the reservoir from the rim of the canyon. Never mind the people who hike down, or those who go rafting. After all, the inner canyon is just ugly billion year old rock. Boring! Reclamation said by flooding the canyon, it would be more accessible. It gets worse with the Marble and Bridge Canyon dams. Like Glen Canyon Dam, their purpose was to generate electricity, which Reclamation would sell to finance more projects. Floyd Dominy himself called them "cash register dams." David Brower and the Sierra Club screwed up with Glen Canyon. At least they redeemed themselves by stirring up public outrage against these cash register dams. In one of the most brilliant and effective advertising campaigns ever, in 1975, they flooded every major newspaper with an ad that said, "Would you flood the Sistine Chapel to be nearer the ceiling?"

[@wannabetowasabe]

@@caseycooper5615 As I remember Brower made the statement during a congressional hearing after Dominy made the statement that more people would be able to see the canyon if it was flooded. The Marble Canyon dam would be in view from the rim at Desert View, so I would dispute what the BOR said about it. That unless they built the dam upstream of where I saw the markings on the canyon wall, which were upstream of the Little Colorado confluence. If those dams were built we would still have problems with little water in the reservoirs. Also if those were not in view of the south rim, the massive electrical facilities would have to be on the rim. Plus, roads would have to have been built to each site for construction access and maintenance.

[@caseycooper5615]

@@wannabetowasabe I absolutely agree with you. I hope you took my dry sarcasm for what it was. Their only purpose was to generate power and make money. You're right about Marble Canyon - it would have been just upstream of the confluence with the Little Colorado. I saw plans for miles of roads and other infrastructure that would have paved over places sacred to the Navajo. I recall part of the plan was to have a miles long tunnel paralleling the Colorado, emptying at Bridge Canyon. The idea was to have the penstocks in this tunnel,, so as so get more drop, generating more electricity. I would love to see video of Brower using the Sistine Chapel line when he testified in Congress. Regardless, I saw copies of the ad campaign, which rivals Johnson's _Daisy_ ad for effectiveness.

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

They wanted the Dam in Dinosaur Colorado - that was the Sierra Clubs big beginning, while they fought that - Glen Canyon was basically snuck in.

[@meljane8339]

It's a Land Watch issue. New Mexico has been having those issues majorly and I hope we will Not be seeing effects in the next several decades Southern California Always has these problems. Always

[@rnitro4950]

The biggest problem is Colorado is taking the water from the west of the Rockies and moving it to the east side, and that is causing floods and the water is only being used once. The water on the west side of the Rockies gets used up to 20 times before being released to open river.

[@chevrelait]

blue mesa reservoir (west slope) has been 80% depleted by giving water to Lake Mead

[@jtgoldfish]

Convenient how one of the benefits of having a damn was never mentioned. which is because of this drought the reservoir was the only reason why people had water in California last year.

[@nannettehuffman8397]

And they just kept using water like their wasn’t a drought. Clueless people.

[@shereemorgan1430]

I lived in Nevada up until a few years ago. I left because Hoover Dam is pretty much dry. I used to boat and fish there. They have moved the dock area was moved at least 15 times and I lived there 14 years.

[@dmannevada5981]

But you do know S. Nevada doesn't have water issues.

[@Stentinalization]

I went there twice, one in the late 2000s early 2010s (Was a kid, difficult to fully remember), and in 2019 over the summer months when I was living out west. It’s bizarre to see the water level lower so much so the rocks surrounding it were “bleached” white. Wondering what’ll the water level will be in another 10~ or so years.

[@dmannevada5981]

@@Stentinalization The rocks aren't "bleached white", that is alkali in the water from when the reservoir(s) were at full pool, it sticks to the walls of the canyon. The water west of the Rockies has a higher alkali content then other parts of the country. You'll see it on the stocks of trees. When it dries, it's very powdery and you can run your fingers along the stock and it comes off like baby powder. Anyways, take it easy.

[@Stentinalization]

@@dmannevada5981 Interesting, I referred to bleaching only as it seems to be the most general concept someone could imagine but that detail gives a more complete understanding. Thanks for informing me a bit more on that, my specialties lie within micro+molecular biology so apologies if my previous comment came off a bit ignorant.

[@dmannevada5981]

@@Stentinalization It's all good, thanx for the reply.

[@petertownsend252]

I am ready for a well deserved thrashing on a matter of complex science and public policy relating to water, power, and dams: My academic background is in geology with emphasis on hydrogeology and quaternary geology. My professional background is in environmental consulting and environmental regulation. By necessity, this a multi-disciplinary field that encompasses interaction with and good working knowledge of the principles of basic engineering, energy, bio-chemistry, geo-chemistry, toxicology, occupational health and safety, economics, environmental law, property law, and business law. In my opinion, the perceived delicate balance between water supply and water demand is much more dynamic than is given credit in modern society. One only has to look back to Pleistocene Lake Lahontan (8,500 square miles, maximum 900 feet deep) and Owens Lake (200 square miles, maximum 200 feet deep) to see that very subtle, but natural changes in the long term balance between precipitation and evaporation (over the course of decades to centuries) in endorheic closed drainage basins represents the difference between prehistoric Lake Lahontan (12,700 years ago) representing one of the largest prehistoric lakes in North America versus today's dry lake bed (playa) it became during the modern Holocene epoch (11,650 years before present). This all occurred long before the arrival of Europeans to North America. Mother nature did that all by herself without the assistance of any humans. That is not to diminish the significance of human impact in what happened to the historic Owens Lake (108 square miles), as it existed in 1913 in comparison to the dry lake bed it became by 1926. That was solely due to the impact of humans. Lake Lahontan, Owens Lake, Lake Bonneville, and many, many other modern playas (dry lake beds) of the western United States can be viewed through a certain type of eyes as big empty pre-constructed bath tubs just waiting to be filled. In the times we live in today, matters of water supply and water demand are very much less a matter of climatological balance as they are a matter of public policy (regulation, taxation, spending), engineering, energy, and economics. Tampa Bay, Florida installed a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant which came online in 2007. The plant is a drought-proof alternate water supply that provides 25 million gallons of water per day meeting 10% of the region’s needs. Tampa Bay was in need of water and they were willing to pay for the cost of installing and operating a seawater desalination plant. Seawater, desalination plants, pumps, aqueducts, and most importantly ENERGY can supply and deliver fresh water to pretty much wherever it is needed or wanted in the world. The primary control, limitation, and driver of all this is the supply and cost of energy needed to operate the desalination systems and pumps. In this regard the rapid development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a game changer. Imagine for a moment a big dry lake bed like Lake Lahontan or Owens Lake largely covered with floating solar PV panels (Floatovoltaics). The solar PV panels serve dual purposes of generating electrical power to operate coastal seawater desalination plants and prevent evaporation to once again tip the precipitation/evaporation balance and allow the natural stream inflow to begin filling the lakes as it did during the Pleistocene Epoch. Solar PV coupled with seawater desalination could potentially irrigate large swaths of the Mohave and Sonoran deserts across southern California and southwestern Arizona for pasture of grass fed / grass finished beef cattle and/or growing low carb keto vegetables. As many are probably not aware, Saudia Arabia and the U.A.E. have purchased farms and ranches in southern Arizona where they are pumping groundwater at very high non-sustainable rates (i.e., groundwater mining) to irrigate and grow hay in the desert which they harvest and ship back to the middle east to feed dairy cows and beef cattle. Hopefully, with the improving economics of solar PV they will soon begin generating their own local power to run seawater desalination plants to irrigate and grow hay locally in their own countries. For those paying attention to such matters, the cost of solar PV has plummeted over the last decade and continues to fall. Large utility scale ground mounted solar PV systems in the multiple gigawatt range are now coming in at less than $0.02 per kilowatt-hour (with no government subsidies) at favorable locations like the Atacama desert in Chile and in Dubai. Intermittent solar PV generation pairs nicely with seawater desalination as there is no need for battery storage. Desalination plant production can ramp up and down with the sunshine. As of November 2021 there is serious talk of building a 15,000 km underwater power cable (high voltage DC) from the Atacama desert in Chile, South America across the Pacific Ocean to Asia. The economics theoretically work because when the sun is shining in Chile it is nighttime in Asia, so no need for local battery storage in Chile. A 3,800 km undersea power cable (high voltage DC) is already in the works to transmit power from Morocco to the U.K. It may not be long before the substantive problems and limitations of intermittent power sources like PV and wind are solved by an interconnected global network of long distance bi-directional underwater power cables to shuttle power from one place to another across the globe (no batteries needed).

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Wow, thanks for that detailed and insightful response! I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a technical expert on this subject. This video was the result of research and arguments I found compelling, and was really intended to give historical context to the mindsets and development patterns that led Glen Canyon Dam to be built in the first place. I think you make some great points about the relationship between water demand/supply and public policy. Thanks for your perspective!

[@rodrudinger9902]

While I am not a geology major, and I admit it; I have a longtime interest in science, and in low-tech solutions, getting the biggest "bang" for the buck, and dealing with the here, and now. The examples from the Pleistocene Epoch were exactly that: 12,000 years ago. At that time, the northern half to two-thirds of Ohio were covered by the Wisconsin Glacier, a half mile thick, at the edges, around Dayton, and Columbus; and as much as a mile thick, over Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto. There was Lake Bonneville, but Salt Lake City would have drowned; and water backed up in the Bitterroot and Clark Fork Rivers, with the Ice Dam occassionally collapsing, and the flooding creating the "Scablands" in Washington State. We need low-tech solutions; 1. Because they're cheap, and 2. Because they're more reliable. Owens Lake, and Valley; were apparently a paradise, fertile, with a fair-sized lake; until Los Angeles, and its Water Authority; came to call. They took nearly all of the water in the Owens River, leaving almost none for the local farmers, ranchers, and the lake, and the entire area began to dry up. Much of Owens Valley is now dry, and essentially useless as farmland, and the Lake is virtually gone, salty, or a salt-pan desert. As for Hetch Hetchy, San Francisco calls the shots, but that can be changed. San Francisco can develop its water supply, elsewhere, or can desalinate; the Pacific Ocean is right next door. They should not be in a position to dictate to the rest of California, or The United States; Hetch Hetchy is too valuable a resource. What we need to do, is develop land and forest management, along the lines of Aldo Leopold: Reasonable and pragmatic, but also respect the land, forests, and natural resources. As for the Keystone Pipeline, I am willing to entertain it, PROVIDED that the pipeline operators; now, and in the future; GUARANTEE THAT THE PIPELINE WILL NEVER FAIL, AND POLLUTE THE MISSOURI RIVER, OR THE OGALLALA AQUIFER! These are also valuable resources, and we cannot afford to allow them to be destroyed. I am not encouraged by the Oil Industry's record. There are also questions as to whether the "Tar Sands" Oil, already considered some of the "dirtiest" on the Planet, probably because what must be done, to obtain it, and prepare it for transport, by pipeline; will stay here, or if it is destined for other markets. That question has yet to be answered by the Oil Companies, and their lobbyists; both in The United States, and Canada.

[@gregdaly900]

Thank you for bringing up desalination! We are at the point that desalination needs to be seriously discussed and implemented ASAP! Do you know if any other good resources discussing desalination, I'd like to learn more.

[@RT-gq3bh]

You are not a realist and you don’t understand the relative size of the things you are talking about. Keystone couldn’t pollute the aquifer if you tried. Tar sand oil has been coming to the US for decades.

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

@@rodrudinger9902 The US isn't primarily composed of Nigeria wetlands, a small pipeline burst could very well be contained. The benefits of a major connecting pipeline outweigh the negatives. It is better ecologically to not be burning so much gas just transporting it.

[@shadowlynx1958]

It is indeed time we considered the questions raised by this and other dams. We need to expand and develop technology for water conservation and re-use. And we need to support our national (and state) parks by visiting those places instead of commercialized resorts. People need to learn to treasure and respect our natural world.

[@brandonvasser5902]

Creating dams is one of the first things humans achieved as a species so their viewpoint on water management is in line with that

[@OspreyKnight]

Creating dams isn't the problem, its how we use them recklessly then outstrip sustainable gains provided by those dams.

[@justscrobbler1897]

Great video yet again, has always struck me that Lake Powell was named after someone who said the river should not be damned for irrigation/ or to support heavy settlement.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

His ideas on small scale, watershed-based development were certainly before their time. I'm sure he'd be quite disappointed in the way water is managed there today... Thanks for watching!

[@ntdscherer]

Dammed, not damned.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

@@ntdscherer When they dammed the river they damned themselves.

[@dunruden9720]

damned. Well, I'll be damned if I'll approve of this river being dammed!!

[@TheGuruStud]

@@ntdscherer where the hell is the damn dam tour?!

[@JimTheHunt]

Love the Colorado River. Great fishing in the lake. The biggest issue is the water use. Too many houses too many almond farm. We have a choice of energy or live like a hippy. If you like going to Vegas you best like the Hover dam.

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

Almond Orchards, Pecan Orchards & down by Yuma I think besides some root crops it's almost all the rest Alfalfa.

[@Comm0ut]

If the water is no longer available the people who chose to live in the desert without any reason other than wanting resort towns will adapt or move. Human greed is not necessarily a net "benefit" and the desert development was NEVER about anything but luxury. No one needs to live there. Many want to. Those are not the same and "want" is mere emotion which after all is weakness.

[@calglider13]

My father worked at the Yuma Projects office during the channelizing of the lower Colorado River. The MAIN reason Glen Canyon Dam was built was to extend the life of Hoover/Bolder Dam. The silt load coming out of the Grand Canyon was going to turn Hoover into a large water fall due to silt build up. Glen Canyon is used as a settling basin. The silt comes rushing out of the canyon flows into the lake where the water drops it silt load before flowing on down stream to spin the turbines of hoover Dam. The Bureau of reclamation basically turned the lower Colorado into a giant irrigation canal. in some places the river is now unnavigable and only 1-2ft. deep.

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

I've never heard the Silt Theory - your right it does, but I would be surprised that that was their intention.

[@calglider13]

@@weaverlance you are correct that there were other reasons used to win approval from the congress to build Glen Canyon. But, I beg to differ with you. I am not sure of what study you are quoting, But the fact is, there are MANY places below Parker Dam where the river is indeed 1ft-2ft deep. There is so little water in the river below Blythe, around Walters Camp that you can no longer drive a boat from Blythe to Yuma anymore. Mexico is also complaining that the Colorado River water allotment they are receiving is so saline as to be borderline unusable for irrigation.

[@calglider13]

@@thuringervonsausage5232 You are right. No politician does things for just one reason. Personal enrichment is another, as is the power and control that go along with it. It is almost impossible to run for congress if you ARE NOT A MILLIONAIRE to start with.

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

The main Reason Glenn Canyon was built was because the Sierra Club sopped the Dam in Dinosaur. So they literally snuck it in.

[@bluesioux9538]

Certain states that have been allowing other states to "have" their allocated water as they haven't needed it, are now facing shortages & need their allotment. The states who had benefitted from the other states not needing their allotted water are now angry about the water not going to them (was a gift from the other states)...

[@ronskancke1489]

I don't suppose California might be one of those ungrateful states?

[@MyBelch]

@@ronskancke1489 If it shrivels and dries up, and blows away, the country will be better off.

[@NatureShy]

@@MyBelch Yeah how I feel about Arizona and the SW

[@clintford1267]

The water flow is the same amount of water once the lake is full. In fact more water is available in more useable amounts.

[@harrylongabaugh7402]

@@NatureShy %75 of the country wants California to go away.

[@fatjoe66666666]

i can say, the water coming out of the gcd is freezing cold, numbing cold all the way to mead. you can look up in the grand canyon and see trees from floods, hundreds of feet above the river in the GC.

[@lmvath211]

At Lake Havisu you will see light houses maintained by the local Yacht Clubs. Those light houses are named after ships that would traverse inland from Baja gulf before the dams.

[@donhartman3054]

I was at the Hover dam in '84' at 16 years old MAN WHAT A CHANGE I'm sure glad that I live on the other side of the Rockies in the sandhills BUT we are having water isues now also it's amazing how much things change in 40 years

[@rodrudinger9902]

Thank you, President Reagan!!

[@mybirds2525]

This presentation missed a very simple solution. Fix that interstate compact and adjust draws on the river to flow and some reserve

[@NationalParkDiaries]

In my opinion, no solution is simple when it comes to the Colorado River. But you're right in the sense that the Colorado River Compact needs to be renegotiated, or at the very least updated, given current river flows and water usage.

[@ED-qz5rk]

I used to water ski on Powell in the early 80’s. All natural resources throughout the entire West under enormous pressure because of growing populations, mostly driven by mass migration. More people = more consumption of water, land, wood, oil, gas, coal, and so much more. It also equals more wastewater, more solid waste, more CO2, and more of every kind of waste. I don’t understand why environmentalists and lovers of the outdoors aren’t on the front lines fighting against immigration fueled resource depletion and waste production.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"I don’t understand why environmentalists and lovers of the outdoors aren’t on the front lines fighting against immigration fueled resource depletion and waste production." Oh, they are! It isn't a very impressive front line. Your hobby versus the lifeblood of water and energy for millions of people. Hmm. which way is that going to go?

[@riproar11]

People voted for Biden who immediately ended the construction of the border wall. I could care less about Trump's egotistical remarks, but preventing 5,000 illegals from crossing the border every day is sound policy from an environmental and ecological standpoint. 1.8 million more people every year means water usage needs for 1.8 million more people every year. 1.8 million more people producing wastewater, human waste, garbage waste and consumption of food, gasoline, electricity, natural gas and much more. The 1.8 million will also add to the population through unchecked and incentivized reproduction.

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

@@thomasmaughan4798 your "hobby"? i don't know how you could have made yourself look more ignorant than that. Ecology IS life. Actual environmentalism, not green washing, is the protection of that. Stopping mass immigration into western countries is on the forefront of anyones mind that is not in a cult ngo.

[@littleturtle1610]

Also illegal immigrants farts are destroying the ozone layer.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@thatsreality5184 "why would you need an entire board of people to make common sense decisions?" It is the law for publicly held companies. The board does not usually make operational decisions; they hire a CEO for that sort of thing.

[@nhragold1922]

Now me, someone who uses a suction dredge, mines respectfully of nature, which suction dredging is literally the least impacted mining due to the fact you are moving gravel in a river from one spot to another, and silt only goes a short distance. We recover lead, fishing lines, hooks, mercury, and just trash in general. Then we literally get surrounded by fish feeding off the back of the dredge, get treated like we're criminals because we're "destroying nature " , and these people are responsible for destroying more nature and towns with dams, than mining has in this countries history... it's mind boggling. Not to mention the history they have destroyed with these dams.

[@specialopsdave]

You can build a hydro facility without a huge dam: Take the Shoshone Hydroelectric Plant inside the Glenwood Canyon, for example. They run a pipe from an intake upstream, and bring the water downhill to a later section of the river, where they put a generator just before the discharge pipe. The natural elevation change is enough to make a significant head pressure

[@karlschauff7989]

Hydroelectric is just to unreliable in the long term vs the cost to build it and the massive emissions required to make all the concrete/steel/copper. Between its moderate electric generation capacity and the risk that weather patterns today may not be the weather patterns in 30 years, it's an investment unlikely to be worth it. Nuclear energy requires the same amount of construction materials, but they make far more electricity and they do it 24/7/365 without altering massive landscapes and rivers. They last 50+ years and could be built to last even longer than that. At this point hydro should be a limited use option.

[@realityhurts8697]

​@@karlschauff7989because wind and solar are ohh so environmentally friendly??? Bullshit

[@Spanglish-KC]

this is well done and good information enjoyed it very much thanks for doing it. My only quibble is with this idea that we can control mother nature. Mother nature controls us we’re not that powerful. Yeah we can affect our environment as you have shown in the video but nature adapts and changes so while we may affect one thing mother nature will do something else

[@stevejohnson2321]

This dynamic exactly describes the controversy at the Salton Sea.

[@ObamAmerican48]

I was just there last week. There's a boom behind the dam, which I suspect is actually a net to prevent more invasive species sneaking through like bass did earlier this year. It's very sobering to see it, to stand there and know the reservoir shore shrinks daily.

[@shiriese]

I live in Page, AZ home of the lake Powell and I’m not gonna lie it’s sad to see our lake become less and less than it used to be back in the 90s or the 80s

[@talisikid1618]

Not as sad as loosing the natural environment was.

[@t.e.1189]

I just found your channel. I watched all 3 of your videos on dams. It answered a lot of question I've had for years. Thank you! Man always seems to make things worst with their "great" ideas, only to realize decades later that perhaps they've created new or a bigger problem. Now what do we do?

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thanks for being here! Dams are certainly a contentious issue, especially the 3 I highlighted in my videos. There's no easy answers considering the scale of this system and the people that rely on them, but my hope is that we can at least learn from our mistakes and identify opportunities like the Elwha for sensible removal and restoration.

[@1960ARC]

Dams now seems to be a relatively short term profitable solution to the need for water, giving a false sense of water security!

[@mattcolver1]

Water studies have shown that by putting the water in one reservoir rather than two you save water that is lost through evaporation and into the sandstone of Lake Powell. Lake Mead should be filled and Powell should just be used for extra water storage and flood control. Lake Mead is in volcanic rock and doesn't soak up the water like the sandstone in Powell does. Most of Glen Canyon would be recovered and we'd also get more water, a win-win situation.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Going to piggyback off this comment and leave a link here to a Glen Canyon Institute initiative called "Fill Mead First," for those who would be interested in learning more about it: www.glencanyon.org/fill-mead-first/

[@thomasmaughan4798]

Water is not "Lost" to evaporation. Where does it go? The prevailing westerlies take that evaporation where it rains out into the Rocky Mountains, the headwaters of the Colorado River.

[@mattcolver1]

@@thomasmaughan4798 So none of it ends up in the Mississippi and goes into the gulf?

[@257Tony]

Aka, give all the water to California and Nevada. No thanks, that water comes from Utah's mountains, we'll keep what is legally owed to us.

[@mattcolver1]

@@257Tony Then you'll love it when millions of Californians and Arizonans move to Utah for the water.

[@w4shep]

I love these videos and this channel. I hope your channel gets big - it deserves to be seen by more people. Maybe make about 100 video shorts and post about 3 a day. The algorithm should help attract more subs for you once you're into the "shorts" loop.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying it and I'm excited to see this channel keep growing and attracting a wonderful community. Thanks for being here!

[@ronvinsant9863]

There is also the issue of flooding. The Boulder Dam was built for many reasons and one of them was the flooding issues with the Colorado. Odd that this was not part of this presentation.

[@gregcollins3404]

Actually, flood prevention is the primary reason for these dams. Water storage and power production are less important.

[@shaft1088]

Too bad the drought has emptied the lake to levels never seen before other than when it was filling up. We need LP full again. The sooner the better.

[@RockyMtnKing800]

Look up how many millions of gallons the government has dumped in the ocean this last year.

[@firefool125]

We shouldn't pump water from out of deserts into deserts. If we can't live off the air/ground water in the region, maybe we just shouldn't live there

[@masonc4919]

@@tylerjones1645 you'd think

[@irishoxley994]

As a former land development contractor.. no one ever talks about ,or mentions the usage of extreme amounts of cubic feet of water it takes to prepare for major housing tracts .. Or major projects . .We did some calculations of three annual projects and the amount of water it consumed ,was enough water to supply a whopping 100, 000 people for 14 yrs .

[@jasonfryman7192]

A very informative explanation of the cost of these dams for development. Of course you never actually hear about the fact that they knew the water levels back then were above average. They just try to blame everything on the climate change. Not the fact of over development, and skewed numbers back when the dams were originally built.

[@fyrfly1152]

This is probably going to sound foolish, but hear me out. What if the desert states that grow food built large greenhouses? That would allow for multi-tier farming and conservation of water. There's a lettuce farm near me that has this monster sized building where they grow, process, and sell several kinds of leafy greens, so it's certainly do-able.

[@insAneTunA]

Learn about permaculture and a guy named Geoff Lawton. And about the huge permaculture projects in Ethiopia and other African countries. There are many examples here on YT. Permaculture is all about harvesting and storing water with strategically designed contour swales and ponds, and using the natural biological system such as useful plants and trees and bio mass to restore the land and the natural water tables, and the fertility from the soil. Even projects that are located in the desert were very successful.

[@DJ-kg6zq]

We need to be doing that so we can prepare to live on uninhabitable planets. It will be much easier on earth. Lol

[@timbrady6473]

After all,isn’t that what we were sold at world’s fairs and Disney-world ?

[@quirinogarza7381]

Hi can you please make a video about the California central valley? The Tulare lake was massive in the 1850s and they redirected the water to Los Angeles. Now the central valley is drying up to include its ground water. Tulare lake is gone and the valley is in perpetual drought. We are told to conserve water while it is being sent to LA.

[@stephenaccomando8427]

When I was young...we went to lake Powell (1980 ish) several times for vacation...and they told us that.the concrete alone would take 600 years to fully cure in the dam...don't know if thats true, but that's what the Ranger tour guide said.

[@dinorahrosales7500]

This presentation focuses on the negative side of the effort by the BOR to provide irrigation water and electricity to an area that would otherwise have neither. The presence of people, cities, recreation, and industry in the west has a favorable side too, and with proper management can exist with these dams.

[@patriciajackson6711]

I, personally, do not believe that "man" has the right to destroy what God created, for such as this. Some things are just not meant to be !!

[@jasperbates6760]

@@patriciajackson6711 you act as you speak for God, but the fact is you don't. The Word of God says exactly the opposite of what your saying God said. God in the Bible told mankind to be fruitful and multiply and to subdue the earth. The fact is that cannot be done without utilyzing the earth's natural resources. People actually need items such as wood, minerals, oil, gas, water, & electricity. And the earth just like food, crops and animals were all created for mankind's use. And are not meant to be abstained from. Climate change is a lie!

[@emilywatt5126]

This is correct. The way it is framed is obvious.

[@steviesevieria1868]

@@jasperbates6760 ok Trumper

[@jasperbates6760]

@@steviesevieria1868 No not Trumper, I am a Christian I already have a leader the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God.

[@MikeBaxterABC]

This is one thing I like about my area of Ontario, I'm always less than a mile away, from a lake or river :)

[@NationalParkDiaries]

I'm from the Eastern US. I feel the same way lol

[@peterrose5373]

Yeah, keep bragging, and they'll put in a canal.

[@vilstef6988]

If you would like to know more about water resources and policy in the West, see the book Cadillac Desert by Marc Resner. As it was published some years ago, some policy will be different, but the historical viewpoint remains valid.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

That's the second recommendation I've gotten for that book, I think I'm going to check it out next. I'm currently reading Rivers of Empire by Donald Worster.

[@ThomasGapinski]

Very interesting. I visited Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon last month. Beautiful places.

[@unicorntv1232]

Where I live in CA. We are maxed out on local water and wells. Yet the city keeps approving massive apartment block construction projects. 😡

[@Pidcack]

No matter what side of the topic you align with, every single person in those seven states has benefited from the Colorado water reclamation, whether it be electricity, food from agricultural or drinking water. It has allowed more than 40 million people to live in those seven states. If it were not for that infrastructure, the vast majority would be forced to live in other locations. Which then drives up costs in other areas, such as housing, roads, sewer, creating more congestion and so on. Furthermore, it would create water issues in those areas as well, by adding millions of more people. Therefore, creating additional benefits for those that don't live in the seven states. Additionally, Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at historic lows. In the past twenty years the stored water from the Colorado River has been the saving grace to the people that live in those seven states.

[@jamestucker8088]

The electricity is fed into the western grid which benefits anyone living in the western 1/2 of the USA. If you ever eat vegetables in the winter its probably grown using water from this river. The Colorado is used to irrigate about the same amount of land as New Hampshire. Cut back on growing cotton in Arizona and rice in California and there will be more water than we know what to do with.

[@r6racer53]

My ranch well in Agua Dulce CA pumps 12 gallons a min. and we are pretty much in the Desert above Los Angeles. Population is the problem, not water allocation!! In 1798 world population was 8 hundred million, and has soared to 8 billion in 225 years and geometrically growing, but that is being taken care of now with vaccination...lol

[@electrolytics]

I knew a guy once who heard a Professor speak on how the damn was a big mistake and that it was just built for greedy, Capitalist reasons. They didn't know what they were doing back then. Many innocent plants have suffered as a result.

[@larry811]

I've a few degrees myself. Done some university work, too. Hard science or no do your own investigating. Increasingly, social and political maturity are a distant second oftentimes these days.

[@larmondoflairallen4705]

Those plants were guilty. They only pretended to be innocent.

[@larry811]

You want to see some cruelty to nature? Check out what communists/socialists have done. Not that the American Indians were behind hand -stampeding a thousand buffalo over a cliff so they could use one or two. Destruction of habitat and wildlife and other Indians was as natural to Indians as slavery was to the Comancheria. I've watched Andean campesinos torch whole mountainsides over one bushmaster.

[@janna257]

The southwest has been in a dire drought for more than 20 years. Without the stored water in Lake Powell , California would have been devastated.

[@G274Me]

Although (thanks to a surplus snowpack this year) lake Powell will rise 50 feet and buy some time, but the next drought is just around the corner. It seems a dilemma exists: Try and save both Powell and Meade and lose both, or save one. Meade is more important.

[@mrjaniemac7005]

In 1955, an uncle, a cousin and myself, (age 9), loaded slabs of sandstone onto the tailgate of my uncle's station wagon, from the east end of Glen Canyon Bridge. We unloaded mid span, drove off and parked. We walked back and hoisted the slabs over the bridge rail, then dropped them into the river. The slabs vanished out of sight, then they hit the water, producing the loudest BOOM we ever heard! The crash echoed endlessly, between the walls of Glen Canyon. The dam was not there, yet.

[@thormatteson7141]

I was there around 1969-72, hiking down the Escalante River as Lake Powell backed up into the canyons. A documentary by BuRec (kzbin.info/www/bejne/f56skoGta619eac) states that the bridge was opened for traffic in 1959. Is the bridge farther upstream older?

[@Moose803]

So you stole rocks?

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

You Impish Vandal, probably squashed Humpback Chubs with those rocks!

[@billyd7628]

@@Moose803 hey his taxes payed for that bridge he has the right to take loose bricks if they fell off.

[@Moose803]

@@billyd7628 how do you know if they paid taxes?

[@jackcastle26]

It's simple really. Without these dams, (maybe even with them!) or a viable replacement for the water they provide, the southwest will cease to exist as we know it. Millions of people will have to be relocated into other neighborhoods and communities due to a lack of fresh water. It's never going back to the way it was before without tremendous pain and suffering. Having been in both the grand canyon and lake powell, the sights in both are truly awe inspiring! Let's stop crying over what was and start loving what is. "Love the one your with!"

[@NationalParkDiaries]

I see your point of view, and to an extent, I don't disagree. If we want to maintain the current standard of living in the West, water infrastructure is certainly a top priority. However, I do think it's worth pointing out where that infrastructure's failings are. Glen Canyon's hydropower capacity is rapidly dwindling, recreation is being impacted as water levels continue to fall, and a riparian ecosystem and Ancestral Puebloan Ruins are flooded beneath Lake Powell. I agree that the West needs water, but I also think we need to acknowledge the shortcomings of the system we've created so we can better adapt it for the future. Thanks for your perspective!

[@sentientflower7891]

The dams are already lost and our civilization, too. Prepare for the greatest migration event in USA history.

[@gregdaly900]

Jack, thank you for your perspective and understanding of the situation. Glen Canyon before the dam was amazing, and Glen Canyon and Lake Powell with the dam are Amazing! We need the water and Lake Powell truly is unlike any other place on earth!

[@kennethcapen3184]

I love lake Powell, and its own way it is truly a wonder of the world, when you're on that lake in a boat fishing hiking the canyons Swimming Water skiing. And the camping incredible. And I have been giving this a lot of thought what's done is done and one way that we could Provide more water to the upper Colorado Basin is pump water from the Great Lakes region all the way to the head Waters Of the Colorado. For instance lake Granby, Dump it in there Then you could control a constant flow into the West problem solved. I have brought this idea up in several other articles and videos but it doesn't seem to get talked about. Another thing that we should really be Trying to solve, Or should I say fix ,And what the real issue is Climate change. Let me know what you all think. [e-mail]

[@petertownsend252]

There is a bit of misinformation, distortion and mythology in this comment with respect to Arizona. The Central Arizona Project (CAP) irrigation canal is a 336 mile long aqueduct that runs from Parker, Arizona on the Colorado River to Phoenix, Arizona then to Tucson, Arizona. The canal is largely the product of a 50 year lobbying effort culminating in the capstone legacy of the late Arizona Senator Carl Hayden. Construction approval and funding for the CAP canal was approved by Congress in 1968 and construction began in 1973. The section of the CAP running from Phoenix to Tucson was not completed until 1993. There is an established legal pecking order in the allocation and use of water that transits the CAP canal from the Colorado River to central and southern Arizona. Much of the water is allocated for agricultural use in allowing water intensive crops like cotton, corn, and cattle feed/grass to be grown in the desert. The urban Phoenix metro area gets most of its domestic water supply (as it did before completion of the CAP canal system) through a system of dams, reservoirs, and diversion canals on the Salt and Verde river systems that is distributed mostly through canals at Granite Reef diversion dam on the Salt River. This modern day canal distribution system is largely an overlay and restoration of the original pre-historic abandoned canal and distribution system built and maintained by the Hohokam Indians from 300 AD and 1,500 AD. This urban domestic water supply is supplemented by a network of groundwater wells distributed throughout the Phoenix metro area that are carefully managed for long term sustainability. CAP water began flowing to Tucson in 1993. It was a costly near immediate disaster when Colorado River water was introduced into the City of Tuscon water distribution system which previously distributed only local groundwater extracted from wells. The Colorado River water has a much different chemistry that is highly corrosive in comparison to the local groundwater. It dislodged rust and corroded the distribution pipes, water heaters and appliances. The City of Tucson water system quickly went back to groundwater and since the mid-1990s the Tucson allocation of CAP Colorado River water is locally recharged into aquifers where it is naturally conditioned. Tucson's allocation of Colorado River water is 144,000 acre-feet per year of which Tucson only uses about 90,000 - 100,000 acre-feet per year. For the past 20 plus years Tucson has been locally recharging and banking 50% of its allocated surplus of Colorado River that it receives through the CAP canal system. Nobody in urban Phoenix or Tucson (residential, commercial, industrial) is going to go thirsty, "relocated", or otherwise "cease to exist as we know it". If and likely when Arizona's annual allocation of Colorado River is reduced, "the tremendous pain and suffering" will fall on a handful of wealthy, politically connected farmers and ranchers who hold an outsized voice on this issue. This handful of politically connected farmers and ranchers would have you believe it is their absolute right and privilege to receive a perpetual stable supply of water delivered to their doorstep at highly subsidized rates and to use that water to grow water loving crops and livestock feed in the desert at the expense and subsidy of the State of Arizona and the rest of the United States. It appears Jack Castle may have been emotionally drawn into the plight of these wealthy, whining, privileged farmers and ranchers who have gotten used to receiving their full allocation of Colorado River delivered through the CAP canal system that was designed, built and maintained at the indulgence and expense of the United States taxpayers. Nobody is being legally blindsided or caught off guard by any of this. In times of drought, the legal pecking order was well established at the time the canal was approved in 1968 and built from 1973-1993. Agricultural irrigation water has the lowest priority during times of drought and reduced allocation on the Colorado River. This was all debated, negotiated, and agreed upon at the time the canal was approved and funded by Congress in 1968.

[@lmvath211]

In La Paz MX, Baja Cabos where the Black Pearl was written the geological tours out to islands note that with in a decade of the mega dams the pearls were gone. Only ruins housing birds remain. Can you imagine the impact thru the whole Gulf!?!

[@KevinReeve]

We have to also acknowledge that the building of all the big costal cities in the East and West have changed the eco system. The clearing of land to raise crops, or build homes, yep they all changed the eco system of once was. Many groups, Native Americans included had to abandon their dwellings/communities due to crop failures etc. New cities emerge on top of old cities. Rivers and streams are diverted to grow crops. The dams have done exactly what they were designed to do and the positives outweigh any negatives. I fear the next abandonment may have to be Las Vegas. A city that gets 90% of its water from the Colorado River.

[@Dirty_Bits]

This is a very well done video. The quality and thought put into it is reminiscent of a time when books and media sources still encouraged their consumers to think and come to their own conclusions. I sincerely enjoyed this for its historical and informational value.

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thank you! I always try to put out well-researched and well-thought out information, even if I don't always get it right or people don't always agree with me. I also encourage plenty of discussion and alternative opinions on the issues I talk about on my channel - these issues are pretty complicated and there are lot of valid viewpoints. Ultimately, I just try and put out a good video and, like you said, just let people come to their own conclusions. Thanks again for watching!

[@patrickjoseph5028]

….good video with extreme bias…you can’t drive a PRIUS without a power dam or coal plant to charge it (or a polluting Chinese lithium mine to build it)

[@swarley39]

Couldn't California at least get water from the ocean?

[@MartinReiter143]

The big problem here is not whether it was worth building the dam, but what happens when the water just doesn’t show up as expected, and boat ramps end up high and dry, and the electricity generated is reduced, and the allotted amounts need to be renegotiated. And we have built a dependency on something over which we ultimately have no control. Sounds like a recipe for trouble, or worse.

[@fudenciojp9676]

Nuclear power for the save!

[@blackhawk7r221]

No trouble for me. I didn’t move to an arid desert. Screw em.

[@OspreyKnight]

@@blackhawk7r221 I moved to the desert from Western Oregon and I'll stay. Its the other morons who aren't adapting to the realities of desert life that are going to flee the desert when it comes back for what its due. Then they'll be your problem. Best of luck.

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

This is the 1st time since it was built that this has happened. In 1984 (I think?) Flood waters were not properly estimated & the dam was inches from being "Crested" if water poured over it, it would have basically Self destructed. Dam Workers were Actually using Plywood on the top of the dam to stop it from cresting.

[@Nate_Higgins]

I don't know how anyone could read Edward Abbey and want to do anything other than destroy Glen Canyon dam. Especially his story in Desert Solitare of his trip through Glen Canyon right before it was flooded. Desert Solitare should be required reading. Thankfully, here in Arkansas, the Buffalo River was barely saved from a similar fate. That's a great story in itself.

[@OspreyKnight]

Just read Desert Solitaire and it was fantastic. Just remember that he embellished the hell out of it. Like how it wasn't one summer but was over two years and that he was alone... with his wife and kid. That said every damned word of it is true even if not factually correct. The San Rafael Swell is still mostly undeveloped and you can "get out of your metal coffin" and walk there. I'm actually angry that Capitol Reef, my favorite park, was chosen over the Swell for park status, the place is truly that extraordinary. I'm more of a fan of The Emerald Mile, which talks directly about the dams and the Colorado. Also... get rid of that damn dam. Glen canyon as it was might be gone, but the wilderness will make a new masterpiece out of it.

[@smoothmountain]

NPS ironically sells his book in all their gift shops, including Arches and Glen Canyon :(

[@mikemerunka9901]

Another great book on this topic is "Goodbye to a River" by John Graves. It's about his trip down a river in Texas. Can't recall the name. Good read.

[@danbev8542]

Desert Solitare is one of my favorite all time books! Another one: ‘The Place No one Knew -Glen Canyon on the Colorado’ by Elliot Porter is a gorgeous coffee table book of Glen Canyon before it was drowned. Sadly, it is no longer in print, used copies are probably available, though.

[@Thomas63r2]

The original allocation of 1922 was based on politics, not science. The upcoming renegotiation will be similarly flawed. Basically it will work until it doesn’t, there is no contingency plan.

[@RobertPetersen1z2y]

Just like covid policies. Nothing ever changes when power and money is involved.

[@Thomas63r2]

@@RobertPetersen1z2y Are you one of those Covid conspiracy theorists?

[@RobertPetersen1z2y]

@@Thomas63r2 Do you believe everything the Government tells you? Do you believe that Fauci always told the truth? Do you believe that Pfizer told the truth? Do you believe that widespread Government mandates are legal and Constitutional?

[@Thomas63r2]

@@RobertPetersen1z2y Okay, so you are a reductionist. You might as well take it all the way, and argue that nothing is real. Please I would ask you to stop making everything into a vast conspiracy theory. In the history of pandemics such reactions always emerge, then fade with the passage of time. Meanwhile, respectfully back on topic: my point was that the allocation of water in the 1922 agreement was not based on its actual availability, which is forcing the situation now at hand. My second point was the same error will likely be repeated in the renegotiations. Scarce fresh water is the true gold of the earth. It appears to me that we have treated the relatively wetter last 120 years or so as normal - against a longer and drier historical record. Humans may enjoy living in warm dry areas, but nature may have other plans for its sustainability.

[@RobertPetersen1z2y]

@@Thomas63r2 You asked me a question on whether I was a conspiracy theorist. I responded with questions back to you to better ascertain if you were interested in reconsidering your labeling of me. But, alas, by your follow up response it's clear that you are a Labelist. You labeled me twice in two comments and both labels you tried to impose on me are wrong. But, that won't stop people like you from doing this over and over. You're perfectly happy to simply throw a label on someone and engage in ad hominem attacks rather than actually offer an opinion of your own creation in furtherance of discussion. You behave no better than the typical school yard bully.

[@mikegrizzle3014]

OOOOO now talk about the damaging floods that happened every spring before these dams were built! :D

[@robertgeorge9909]

Where? The flooding on the lower Colorado was vital to the ecosystem around and in the river. There wasn't a human impact to this historic flooding.

[@andrewholdaway813]

But what's done is done. Are you suggesting the dam should be 'deleted', how would that work.

[@jroar123]

Okay I get it, both Parks and Wildlife and the bureau of land management both have vested interest in either getting ride of Glen Canyon Dam or keeping it in place to generate electricity. Whose pocket does the power generation line? What about the big ditch and tunnel that diverts Colorado river water from the West back over to the East?

[@wyattbartlett2619]

Fun fact, This summer, the Glen Canyon Dam may be at Dead pool. This means that although water goes threw the dam with floodgates, the several million dollar turbines will be rusting and dry. I personally don't care too much because although I live here, I see it as a way to cleanse the lake of its zebra muscles infestation and to look at the history below, but the decrease of tourism will suck a little, the tourism will never die.

[@markmixon1121]

In a million years from now whatever we do now will not matter

[@mr.romero4799]

I’m from Roswell New Mexico, we have the Pecos river that flows through here. I know if it wasn’t for these dams and reservoirs the Pecos river would be dry right now.

[@kennixox262]

It is unlikely that we will ever see Lake Powell and Mead full or at "normal" historical levels in our lifetime.

[@markgigiel2722]

It's unlikely we will have a "normal" lifetime.

[@GREENBEANJETSFAN]

Excellent vid quality and info. You deserve more subs! You got mine via this one. I looooove lake Powell but we have some real conversations to have about the future of water in the SW. It’s gonna get ugly fast without serious considerations toward reality. Great job! I’m happy to have found this today. Now, if I could just get back to work over here. 😂

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thanks, and welcome to the community! I couldn't agree more about water in the Southwest. Serious questions to ask and no easy answers, but conversations like these certainly help. Thanks for contributing!

[@NightRunner417]

It doesn't even need to be an issue of ethics. In fact, bringing ethics into it is part of the self-dooming process because then these things become an issue of emotion and personal preference, neither of which take a rational look at cause and effect. Science tells you all you need to know, and if you embrace its message, then there is no other conclusion one can come to than cause will ultimately destroy everything we've made with effect. We use our intelligence and creativity to accomplish amazing things, and our egos and desires to ignore consequences that should be obvious. We are only capable of realizing our catastrophic mistakes once they are actively eating us alive. The simple truth is this: A planet cannot be mass modified to service ONE species without compromising all the others, and compromising all others for the sake of one is a fatal trap for that one. We have great intellect and great creativity, but an incredible lack of foresight and wisdom. It is that lack of foresight and wisdom that will destroy us, and the Earth will be more than eager to swallow everything we've made.

[@Nyx_2142]

You talk so much but say so little.

[@NightRunner417]

@@Nyx_2142 Or so it might seem to one that possesses a brain but uses it so little.

[@sonofdamocles]

There used to be jaguars in the forests of the colorado river delta. Now its a salt flat.

[@Sailor376also]

Without the Glen Canyon Dam in place. Lake Mead would have run out of water, dead pool 10 years ago. What has gotten us to this past winter's one season of bountiful snow is the double storage. The two reservoirs have held enough water to nearly allow us to scrape through. Southern California in particular would have been in serious trouble.

[@DriveCarToBar]

Glen Canyon dam hasn't produced at its nameplate capacity for some time. The argument for its existence is further eroded by the fact that as a powerplant, it's of fairly low output even at full power. A single nuclear reactor at the Palo Verde Nuclear plant near Phoenix produces that same amount of electricity as Glen Canyon Dam, and there are three such reactors. Building and installing another one would be all the additional electricity needed to replace the dam's declining output. Or, stick a few nice shiny new modular reactors where the Navajo Generating Station is. The coal plant is shutdown at this point but all the electrical connections are still there. In terms of water use, the flows of the Colorado will still be there. Nearby Paige AZ and the native tribes will have access. Perhaps a side canyon could be flooded as a small local reservoir that isn't as consequential as Glen Canyon to ensure steady water supplies. The sensible move here is to remove the Glen Canyon dam and restore the river and store the water in Lake Mead downstream. Not only would you regain the natural beauty of Glen Canyon's striking sandstone walls but you'd stop allowing so much water to seep through those walls. The Navajo Sandstone of Glen Canyon is much more porous than the basaltic rock that makes up Black Canyon where Hoover Dam was built. Bank seepage is considerably worse in Lake Powell. When Lake Powell was closer to full, it lost enough water each year from evaporation and bank seepage, to completely cover Nevada's allocation of 300k Ac/ft per year. One lake loses less water than two. Lake Mead is also deeper than Powell but has slightly less surface area, meaning less evaporation. The reasons for keeping Glen Canyon Dam are gone. It was a bad idea when it was built and it needs to go.

[@jinhuichen8964]

Navajo Generating Station is cleaning up. I went to Page 2 weeks ago and the tall chimneys had been torn down and not many of the facilities are left.

[@ronald5629]

I have three generations of my family in the coal power plant business including myself they just closed the one I retired from pitiful it was a cyclonic steam generator from Germany from war reparations and it had been rebuilt and numerous times and it still going but they let the stupid Sierra club stop it and close it down

[@jinhuichen8964]

@@ronald5629 The Green New Fool just doesn't solve anything good or effective to the energy but destroys American energy structure and its stability.

[@DriveCarToBar]

@@ronald5629 we should be closing them down. Burning hydrocarbons is dumb when we have lots of Uranium available.

[@ronald5629]

@@DriveCarToBar hydrocarbons aren't doing anything I don't care go nuclear

[@placitas52]

These dams have a silt build up that limits their life to about 50 years. Most of them are reaching or exceeding that time frame. So how do you handle that problem?

[@ronald5629]

They would have to coffer it off again. using bypass tunnels and clean it.

[@ronald5629]

I would go in there with my engineering firm where I used to install fire extinguishing equipment in coal fire power plants and take some of that water put it on high pressure and blow that silt away constantly it would have to be sedimented ,somewhere

[@kieranh2005]

You could suction dredge it up remove it. Easiest way might be to barge it to a pumping station and pipe it off as a slurry.

[@patrickhorvath2684]

Remove the silt with nuclear weapons. A little nukey never hurt anyone..

[@Roaming50]

Seams like modern dams need a mechanism to suck up silt and to add it into the discharge beyond the power station so that downstream still gets the sediment that they are lacking now. Don't have a solution for the cold water though unless there was a series of pipes that allowed water to be pulled from the upper, warmer layers but that would be a nightmare to manage with fluctuating levels.

[@keithsj10]

The questions about whether or not the Glen Canyon dam was built is irrelevant because it's already there. No one is going to tear it down or abandon it. California was growing like mad and they needed water for those people to survive. People surviving and expanding into this part of the country was important to the growth of the country. No one worried about plants and animals or Anasazi ruins either. The water didn't ruin anything, it opened up the entire southwest to more people coming here. If these dams wouldn't have been built, then no one would be here and California would look very different today. Go to Chile some day and look around their desert. No one's there...

[@hotchihuahua1546]

They say knowledge is power . Knowledge has an Achilles hill . Knowing what our future looks like is depressing .

[@ericfielding2540]

I visited Lake Powell in 1981, when the water level was high and the attitude still generally positive for the area. It was already clear that the sediments captured behind the dam would eventually make it useless for water storage even without the drought.

[@peterrose5373]

probably ought to dredge them up for topsoil, then.

[@johnnyc5655]

I’m in my mid 20s and it’s crazy how I can say I’ve watched the Colorado river slowly dry up my entire life. Had dreams to go kayaking in the river one day but I’m afraid those dreams have dried up.

[@russelbrown6275]

Allocation should be based on natural river flow. As the river flows less water continues downward as the water amounts shrink. So califagia should get the least amount.

[@tomkarren2473]

Flaming Gorge Dam and Dinosaur NM are in Utah on the Green River, which is a tributary of the Colorado, which also runs through Utah.

[@iguanaamphibioustruck7352]

Comparing an elephant to a mouse. Total BS. You need to honor your heritage, not downgrade it. Ten thousand years ago there were hundreds of natural dams. There are no better ways to store energy for the benefit of man. There is no better way to create suitable habitat for all life as we know it. Iguana

[@nichesound]

The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. They are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara Tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture.

[@NoNo-fy3kr]

No such thing as "Native American" ........... Since ALL of our ancestors migrated here from ether Europe or Asia.

[@aldersmoke1]

@@NoNo-fy3kr Really? Dog whistle much?

[@thuringervonsausage5232]

yeah & they are now trying to say Pueblos & Anasazi are related. As well as Anasazi is a bad word Racist & shouldn't be used. Go Fish

[@braydenjames75]

Personally I think that glen canyon damn needs to bite the dust. Once Powell reaches dead pool, it means that the flow of the Colorado beyond glen canyon damn will stop, which in itself will cause major problems for the Grand Canyon, lake mead, etc.

[@lynnedunn4964]

Great video...and full of truth‼️ I live very close to the Colorado River..just down stream from Davies Dam...the huge buildings of the casinos look so out of place...very sad...I wonder how much gas and oil gets into the water from all the jet skis and boats too...just a thought...thank you...❤️ Creator help us all in our ways of thinking...😌

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thanks for watching!

[@POLITICALHYBRID]

As long as the dam can produce power you can't get rid of it because replacing it would require some fossil fuels. That would negate the land restoration value because they can't replace all of it with solar and wind power. If it quits generating power due to low water someone needs to research at that time the chances of whether water will return.

[@WyomingTraveler]

Hi, I just subscribed to your channel. I find it not only entertaining, but educational, informative, and thought-provoking. I also like your cinema graphic skills

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Thanks and welcome to the community! I will be honest and say a lot of the footage in my videos isn't my own, but comes from stock footage. I incorporate my own when I'm able to travel, but I couldn't tell these stories as frequently as I do without stock footage. Glad you're enjoying it!

[@duduburd]

"Cover the entire state of Kentucky in a foot of water" Don't worry brother, mother nature can handle that