Dear HCN,
As a geologist who thinks
the flooding of Glen Canyon was tragic but who also happens to work
for the Bureau of Reclamation, I can’t help but say something about
the drain Lake Powell idea (HCN, 11/10/97). Over and over we hear
from David Brower and others who claim that Glen Canyon is
“destroyed,” “lost,” or “ruined forever.”
All I
can say is that these folks (and their human egos, which tend to
think of a lifetime as forever) have no concept of geologic time or
the realities of geologic processes. Glen Canyon, and the Grand
Canyon for that matter, have existed for several million years and
will still be here several million years from now, when what we
call the human race is long gone.
Glen Canyon Dam
will only last a few hundred years at the most. The reservoir will
fill with sediment, the dam will be overtopped, and then will be
eroded away, just as the dozens of lava dams were that blocked and
flooded the lower Grand Canyon during the last million years. (Yes,
numerous dams have flooded the Grand Canyon in the recent geologic
past.) There are much more important environmental battles to be
fought – like overpopulation – than this one over Lake
Powell.
Larry
Anderson
Golden,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline This dam will go anyway.
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