In the Upper Basin, drought contin- gency efforts are concentrated on finding the “most feasible route” to avoid criti- cally low reservoir levels at Lake Powell, Ostler said. “In our evaluations we have looked at the possibility that the relative- ly poor hydrology might continue on for a number of additional years,” he said. “We’ve tried to develop a plan so we are prepared if that hydrology continues and what we have seen from our modeling is that we have different problems with low reservoir conditions over the next 20 to 30 years than the Lower Basin.” Te “first and most prominent prob-


lem,” he added, is the threat to hydro- power generation at Glen Canyon Dam. “Tat reservoir generates more than 75 percent of the clean energy coming from the Colorado River Storage Project facilities,” he said. “It’s very important.” Te loss of hydropower at Glen Canyon would have “extremely high


“The Upper Basin certainly has been doing a lot of work among the states identifying possible measures that improve our response to the conditions at Lake Powell.”


– Don Ostler,


Upper Colorado River Commission


consequences,” affecting the operation and maintenance funding of all the Colorado River Storage Project facilities in the Upper Basin as well as salinity control projects, Endangered Species Act recovery programs and Glen Canyon Dam monitoring and research activities, Ostler said.


Aerial view of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.


It also would affect the ability to generate funds intended by Congress to help the Upper Basin states develop water resource projects. “All of those are significant factors, as


are the customers who currently depend upon Glen Canyon for power,” Ostler said. “Many communities in the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin get reduced power costs from Glen Canyon power as well as Indian tribes who are dependent and irrigation projects.” Glen Canyon hydropower is valuable


to the Western power grid because while it does not supply a large percentage of the total electricity, it provides a valuable supplement to the coal-fired and natural gas power plants that are not easy to restart after a major system outage. Te second impact of low water conditions in Lake Powell is the in- creased threat of the Upper Basin states’ inability to comply with the terms of


8 • Colorado River Project • River Report • Summer 2016


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