Grand Canyon dam release becomes an online spectacle for locals and tourists

Lake Powell and Lake Mead are connected by the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The region has faced an ongoing 'megadrought' over the last year. Photo / Tim Peake

A video shared on Twitter showing a massive flow of water being released from Lake Powell into the Colorado River, in an effort to rebuild beaches and sandbars in the Grand Canyon, has amassed a huge online audience.

Lake Powell, the second-largest artificial reservoir in the United States, is a major tourist attraction, known for its incredible size and scope. One version of the clip, posted by a local community page @LasVegasLocally, has surpassed 320K views. It shows the moment that the Glen Canyon Dam opens the water flow, with the incredible pressure of the dam creating an arc in the air.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has begun releasing water from Lake Powell in order to create a water surge that travels through the Grand Canyon — helping to restore sandbars and beaches — before arriving in Lake Mead tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/LL7zVKTtMx

— Las Vegas Locally 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) April 25, 2023

The US Bureau of Reclamation has been conducting an experiment this week (known as a High Flow Experiment), releasing huge amounts of water at the Glen Canyon Dam. Up to 39,500 cubic feet (1,118,515 litres) of water is released per second into the Colorado River, in the effort to “mobilize and redeposit sand to rebuild beaches throughout the Grand Canyon”, according to a press release from the Bureau. The region has been facing a “megadrought” for some time.

There are also sandbars throughout the canyon which the Bureau hopes the water flow will restore. Those areas serve as crucial recreational sites for tourists and are popular for accessing fishing, tubing, jet skiing, boat trips, kayaking and other open-water activities.

The artificial lakes have faced some troubles over the last year, due to an ongoing drought that has rapidly depleted the water levels throughout southwestern parts of the US. At the beginning of 2023, Lake Powell sat at just 33 per cent of available capacity. Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead utilise dams, the Hoover and Glen Canyon, to create hydropower to support millions of people in nearby communities. The area also benefits economically from tourist visitation.

Speaking to the Guardian earlier this year, the owner of the Lake Powell Adventure Company, Danny Woods, told a reporter that they were no longer landing boats in certain spots due to the “extraordinarily low” water levels. Woods said he was optimistic about the future of tourism, but the exhausted supply of water was “a wake up call”.

This might mean that tourist activities shift to land or air sightseeing tours since water levels are restricting access to long-running aqua activities.

It is expected that this release of water will create effects all the way through the hydro system, as far as another huge artificial reservoir Lake Mead, which is more than 2000km away.

The Bureau says it will monitor the effects of the experiment on various landscapes and resources, including “beaches, fisheries, aquatic insects, and archaeological sites”.