The Controversial Glen Canyon Dam

The Colorado River has been the giver of life for southwestern civilizations in the United States for over a century. Without it, the mighty metropolis of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego would not survive to the extent they do. Seven states and twelve cities depend on it for drinking water and irrigation. The Colorado River Basin states are: California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Each state is party to the Colorado River Compact entered into in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on November 24, 1922. Moreover, the United States and Mexico entered into a treaty on February 3, 1944, which guaranteed Mexico 1,500,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually to the two states it reaches in Mexican territory. Along

Glen Canyon Dam was built to provide much needed power to Phoenix. President Eisenhower greenlit the project and the Bureau of Reclamation was the force behind its construction. Although the Sierra Club fought against building the dam, their efforts were not successful. Its creation decimated the natural ecosystems, fish that had evolved to survive in its silty water died as clear colder water came out of the dam. Archeologically the dam also represented a loss, as thousand-year-old petroglyph panes and caved dwelling of the Anasazi became submerged. On the other hand, Phoenix thrived, and like the mythological bird is named after, splendidly rose from the desert ashes to become a metropolitan area of 4.3 million

Well for starters, the only thing that could really improve the Colorado’s low water levels - besides precipitation - is building a 1,000 mile long aqueduct from the Colombia River, which will never happen. As mentioned before, the problems of the Colorado River cannot be summarized or alleviated by linear solutions. Desalination is not a possibility due to long distances and expensive methods. Building more dams would be a waste of capital because if the precipitation is not abnormally high, then it is pointless. Recycling water is already taking place, but that’s going mostly to meet the treaty with Mexico. In 2007 the secretary of interior set interim guidelines on how to allocate the Colorado River water in the event of shortages. The guidelines are considered interim because they expire in 2026. The guidelines establish three levels of shortage conditions: Light shortage, Heavy Shortage, and Extreme shortage. Arizona particularly has a lot to lose under the scenarios described. Because of the building of the Central Arizona project, a 336-mile long system of aqueducts and tunnels, Arizona agreed to be last in line in case of drought. In August of 2008, Arizona senator McCain called for the water compact to be renegotiated among the states, but that will probably never take place as all states have experienced population growth. The problems with the Colorado have been developing at a slow pace, and now all seven states are in a