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Water Being Conserved Upstream

A man sits on his stuck houseboat in Lake Mead.
A man sits on his stuck houseboat in Lake Mead. Photo: John Locher (AP)

Some of the low water levels this month are thanks in part to a decision to preserve power at other parts of the river. Earlier this year, federal officials made the call to keep rapidly plummeting water levels at Lake Powell, the larger reservoir upstream, intact by delaying releases of water to Lake Mead downstream. The hydroelectric dam in Lake Powell, which provides electricity for 5.8 million households and businesses across the West, can’t operate when levels fall below 3,490 feet, and the lake was getting dangerously close in May, dipping to just over 3,522 feet that month. (As of writing, water levels in Lake Powell were sitting at 3,539.3 feet [1,078.8 meters]).

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