Back to Eden
November 2, 2004 1:02 PM Subscribe
When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed, it took 18 years for the waters of the Colorado River to flood 186 miles of the most beautiful canyonlands in the world. David Brower called it America's "most regretted environmental mistake." But now Glen Canyon is coming back.
(see also: The Great Southwest Salt Saga in the current issue of Wired. Available online, Nov. 9th)
posted by shoepal at 1:24 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by shoepal at 1:24 PM on November 2, 2004
Awesome news. I have hiked a bunch of the canyons in the southwest and always heard that the Glen Canyon was one of the most beautiful, before it was lost to the lake. In this day and age we would never think of removing a dam, so it's funny to see the place drain naturally.
posted by mathowie at 1:41 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by mathowie at 1:41 PM on November 2, 2004
Having spent a good deal of time hiking in South Utah, I can only hope that this continues. I'd love to have all those canyons to hike in, as they look absolutely amazing.
What matt said: Nature gets the last laugh!
posted by Windopaene at 1:54 PM on November 2, 2004
What matt said: Nature gets the last laugh!
posted by Windopaene at 1:54 PM on November 2, 2004
Matt: actually, lots of dams are getting removed across the west- the AP just had a story on it the other day. Their number was 145 dams dismantled in the last five years. Pretty cool to read.
posted by louie at 3:38 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by louie at 3:38 PM on November 2, 2004
I spent some time in Glen Canyon Dam when I was a geology student at Northern Arizona University. It's an amazing feat of engineering and I couldn't help but be impressed even as I resented its existence.
In 1983 the dam came close to failure as higher than anticipated winter runoff poured into Lake Powell and threatened to break over the top. The spillways were damaged badly enough to eat into the surrounding sandstone as they opened the floodgates trying to keep the lake back. We were told during a tour that dam personnel had to place sheets of plywood on the lip of the dam to hold the water back at one tenuous point (although I can't find anything in google to corroborate this).
One of the coolest things I did in university was go back in one of the exploratory tunnels dug before the construction of the dam. It was dark, raining with the constant percolation through the surrounding stone, and you could feel the claustrophobic weight of all that rock squatting just above your head.
I loved every minute of it.
posted by djeo at 6:04 PM on November 2, 2004
In 1983 the dam came close to failure as higher than anticipated winter runoff poured into Lake Powell and threatened to break over the top. The spillways were damaged badly enough to eat into the surrounding sandstone as they opened the floodgates trying to keep the lake back. We were told during a tour that dam personnel had to place sheets of plywood on the lip of the dam to hold the water back at one tenuous point (although I can't find anything in google to corroborate this).
One of the coolest things I did in university was go back in one of the exploratory tunnels dug before the construction of the dam. It was dark, raining with the constant percolation through the surrounding stone, and you could feel the claustrophobic weight of all that rock squatting just above your head.
I loved every minute of it.
posted by djeo at 6:04 PM on November 2, 2004
All dams are ugly, but the Glen Canyon Dam is sinful ugly. -Edward Abbey
posted by faithnomore at 7:01 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by faithnomore at 7:01 PM on November 2, 2004
Yeah, Hetch Hetchy is my next favorite canyon that got dammed on the list.
posted by mathowie at 7:28 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by mathowie at 7:28 PM on November 2, 2004
Gonna be interesting to see where the water for the southwest comes from. You can see from the article that downstream they're consuming more than the inflow. The question is what's going to happen to downstream metro areas (as well as Utah concerns dependent on the water) when things run dry.
Though the hiker in me is seriously stoked.
posted by weston at 7:50 PM on November 2, 2004
Though the hiker in me is seriously stoked.
posted by weston at 7:50 PM on November 2, 2004
The entire Ogallala aquifer is drying up, weston. A significant chunk of the interior USA is going to be royally pooched within the next decade or two. It's worth a google; quite the shocker.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:18 PM on November 2, 2004
posted by five fresh fish at 10:18 PM on November 2, 2004
Wonderful article, alms, thanks. As somebody who has hiked all over that area for the last 35 years, I love such news.
Matt: actually, lots of dams are getting removed across the west
We're after obsolete dams here in Maine, too. A group I sometimes work with, the Downeast Salmon Federation, put together a coalition of local people and the military to get rid of the East Machias Dam. You can even order a dam removal toolkit.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:11 AM on November 3, 2004
Matt: actually, lots of dams are getting removed across the west
We're after obsolete dams here in Maine, too. A group I sometimes work with, the Downeast Salmon Federation, put together a coalition of local people and the military to get rid of the East Machias Dam. You can even order a dam removal toolkit.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:11 AM on November 3, 2004
The question is what's going to happen to downstream metro areas (as well as Utah concerns dependent on the water) when things run dry.
A significant chunk of the interior USA is going to be royally pooched within the next decade or two.
[/reality]
Fortunately for all the red states, they've voted for an environmentally-concerned president who's going to (by faith) bring back all the water. Then he will walk on it to save them.
[reality]
posted by LeLiLo at 1:23 AM on November 3, 2004
A significant chunk of the interior USA is going to be royally pooched within the next decade or two.
[/reality]
Fortunately for all the red states, they've voted for an environmentally-concerned president who's going to (by faith) bring back all the water. Then he will walk on it to save them.
[reality]
posted by LeLiLo at 1:23 AM on November 3, 2004
In England we don't have canyons to hike in, or flood with water. But reading this piece made me want to rush out and buy a rucksack and some hiking boots: "It's beautiful to watch the full moon bounce up over the cliff tops," Mr. Garabedian said... "Every rock you turn over has toilet paper under it from the years this was a campsite for boats." Humans are scum.
posted by DrDoberman at 3:50 AM on November 3, 2004
posted by DrDoberman at 3:50 AM on November 3, 2004
DrDoberman: there's plenty of fabulous stuff to come see in the Southwest even with everything we've put underwater. Watching the full moon come up while camping at Havasu Falls six years ago is one of the highlights of my life.
fff: The Ogallalla aquifer doesn't seem to have much to do with the Colorado's tributaries...this map of the Colorado compared with this map of the aquifer wouldn't seem to suggest overlap.... especially considering the altitude difference.
Not that this means it isn't a problem.
posted by weston at 10:04 PM on November 3, 2004
fff: The Ogallalla aquifer doesn't seem to have much to do with the Colorado's tributaries...this map of the Colorado compared with this map of the aquifer wouldn't seem to suggest overlap.... especially considering the altitude difference.
Not that this means it isn't a problem.
posted by weston at 10:04 PM on November 3, 2004
opps. k, then. :-)
The map of the aquifer doesn't show it as big as I thought it was, either. Perhaps I'm thinking of the entire mid-West's groundwater system, then. What I remember is that most of the middle-US is going dry.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:24 AM on November 4, 2004
The map of the aquifer doesn't show it as big as I thought it was, either. Perhaps I'm thinking of the entire mid-West's groundwater system, then. What I remember is that most of the middle-US is going dry.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:24 AM on November 4, 2004
My first thought when I saw the picture titles was "Restoration? Why don't they just leave it alone and let nature take its course?"
Of course, what they mean is that with the water levels dropping, features are resurfacing from beneath the depths. I don't think they mean anyone's actually, y'know, taking Tilex to the ring-around-the-basin. Doh.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:05 PM on November 4, 2004
Of course, what they mean is that with the water levels dropping, features are resurfacing from beneath the depths. I don't think they mean anyone's actually, y'know, taking Tilex to the ring-around-the-basin. Doh.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:05 PM on November 4, 2004
Back in the 1960s, environmentalists were predicting that Glen Canyon Dam would silt up and become unusable in two or three hundred years. No one ever imagined that it might dry up and become unusable within a matter of decades.
Thank you, alms. It is consoling to be reminded that nothing lasts for ever.
posted by verstegan at 12:28 AM on November 5, 2004
Thank you, alms. It is consoling to be reminded that nothing lasts for ever.
posted by verstegan at 12:28 AM on November 5, 2004
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posted by shoepal at 1:21 PM on November 2, 2004