Lake Powell hits lowest summer level ever, raising risk of 'dead pool'

[dalton99a]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/06/25/why-lake-powell-risk-dead-pool/89557878007/

Lake Powell hits lowest summer level ever, raising risk of 'dead pool'
Huge Colorado River reservoir straddles Utah-Arizona border
Trevor Hughes

Lake Powell ‒ the massive Colorado River reservoir that produces power for millions of homes across the West ‒ is the emptiest it has ever been entering the hottest part of the summer. And the worst is still to come.

Although the lake's levels have briefly fallen lower in years past, those low-water levels came in the spring, before melting snow refilled it. This year, that refill never happened.

As a result, Lake Powell will next spring fall to "minimum power pool," according to a newly released federal projection. If the water levels fall below that, the Glen Canyon Dam would stop generating electricity.

The amount of water in the reservoir has slowly been dropping as long-term climate change creates a warmer and drier West. Today, the lake is 23.28% full. It was last completely full in 1983.

Federal water managers have already been sucking water out of other reservoirs in Colorado and Wyoming to slow Lake Powell's decline. But their predictions also show Lake Powell's water level will nevertheless continue dropping until late next spring, when this coming winter's snow begins to melt.

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