Snowmelt to raise Lake Powell by 50 feet, open shortcuts

[ben_meyers]

Associated Press
Mar. 29, 2008 02:14 PM

SALT LAKE CITY - The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the Rocky Mountain snowpack will raise half-empty Lake Powell by 50 feet, opening a crucial shortcut for boaters for the first time in five years.

The so-called Castle Rock cut - still a stretch of exposed rock - will let houseboats get to the most popular beaches quickly from Wahweap marina on the Utah-Arizona border, shaving a dozen miles off the trip.(snip)

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area spokesman Kevin Schneider says a nearly decade-long drought has made impassable many of the labyrinth canyons of the 186-mile-long reservoir. The biggest obstacle for many boaters motoring upstream was Castle Rock.

Impressive Rocky Mountains snowfall will boost flows into the Colorado River, but scientists say one good winter doesn't necessarily mean the end of a long drought.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0329lakepowell-ON.html

[pinto]

1. Good (short term) news for water supply in the West. n/t

[Bobbieo]

2. yes, yes, yes!!! Hooray for the Colorado!

[Clear Blue Sky]

3. Hope it's a trend for more moisture in the future.

[NNadir]

4. Excuse me if I don't cheer for the second worst reservoir in North America.

That's one dam that should be blown up.

[malakai2]

5. On the plus side

As the interior west warms faster than the rest of the temperate latitudes, and higher altitudes feel the effects first, and ENSO can't be counted on to provide cooler temps and extra precipitation every year, eventually the Colorado Basin dams will come down. However, in the interim, every outlier like this year will encourage more development in the area, which will force the Federal government to spend more to maintain the status quo, and people will continue to ignore the problem(s).

[kestrel91316]

6. Well, then, why don't you go ahead and do it?

Or are you perhaps just all talk and hot air? Nah, THAT couldn't possibly be........