Lake Powell Hits Record Low, Threatening Hydropower

Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, fell to a record low of 3,519.91 feet above sea level on Saturday, according to Bureau of Reclamation data published Sunday.

That breaks the previous record of 3,519.92 feet, set in April 2023.

The reservoir is now just under 30 feet above "minimum power pool" — 3,490 feet — the level at which Glen Canyon Dam can no longer spin its turbines and generate electricity.

"We are in uncharted territory," said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

What It Means for Power and Water

Glen Canyon Dam's eight turbines produce enough electricity each year to power nearly 500,000 households, and are relied on by Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.

Brad Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University, said that "scary threshold" will be reached this year unless "extraordinary measures" are taken — including cuts to water releases from Lake Powell and upstream.

The worse scenario is "deadpool," below 3,370 feet, at which no water flows downstream from the dam at all. Schmidt said he would expect "draconian steps to decrease water use to prevent this from occurring. But who knows?"

Downstream, the Colorado River supplies water to roughly 40 million people and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland across seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. The river has shrunk by roughly 20% since 2000.