Lake Powell filling up

Lake Powell is at its highest level in a decade, plus Lake Mead is 20 feet higher than a year ago, and it's expected to add another 33 feet by next August.



The Las Vegas Review Journal enthused that "Last month's inflow ranked as the second largest Lake Powell has ever seen in July. The 4.35 million acre-feet of water that poured into the reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border that month was almost three times the July average, and the flow in June was even greater -- 5.4 million acre-feet, or almost 24 times the amount of water used in the Las Vegas Valley all of last year."



Big snowfalls and a delayed spring melt are contributing to the summer runoff and lake fills. The paper reports that 21 streams in Utah saw the highest flows ever measured, with some records going back 106 years. [right, Lake Powell in 2008 (top), compared to 1999 (bottom)]



Colorado River water is also carried by the Central Arizona Project canal to both Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas.