"Now that 50 years have passed since the arguments were first made, the warnings have turned into fulfilling prophecies," said John Weisheit, conservation director of Living Rivers in Moab. "Instead of celebrating, the Bureau of Reclamation should be performing a wake for the pending funerals of communities that will run out of water once these reservoirs bottom out and the rivers run dry. It's time to develop a new project, the Colorado River Survival Project."

Don Ostler, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in Salt Lake City, takes exception, saying CRSP projects such as Lake Powell have proven their worth.

"The construction of Glen Canyon Dam and other CRSP projects by the Bureau of Reclamation have been a lifesaver already for the people who use this water because of the recent drought," said Ostler. "I say we're not finished with the drought, either, with six out of the last seven years of precipitation below normal."

Even though both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, located further downstream near Las Vegas, are currently less than 50 percent full, the two reservoirs are meeting their obligations, he noted.

"If we didn't have Lake Powell, Lake Mead would have been empty by now," Ostler said. "We could not have supported the needs of the people without these two reservoirs. They are critically important and will become much more important in the future."

Lake Powell first reached capacity in 1980 and has had its ups and downs since then, although it was considered to be at its full capacity in 1999. Several states, including Utah, have initiated conservation measures aimed at curbing water use at every level.

"I'm darn proud of what Utah has done in reacting to a campaign of wise water use," Strong said. "I know we've been aided by the drought; that's certainly speeded up conservation. Six years later, we have a 13 percent reduction statewide in water use, and that's pretty amazing."

The challenge for water managers, Strong said, is to learn how to improve on the systems that are now in place.

"Society's needs change and as we learn more, we need to make adjustments," he said, adding one of the biggest challenges could be changing the attitude most people have when it comes to water conservation.

"As I look out my window here in Salt Lake City I can see green trees around the Capitol and barren mountains in the distance," he said. "We have an ethic in this state of being green. Conservation is going to have to play a larger role."

Add to that the alarm sounded by scientists around the world that global warming is shifting the Earth's climate, and the astounding population surge in cities throughout the west and "water wars" are bound to occur, Ingebretsen said.

"When are we going to stop building these megacities in the Mohave Desert?" he asked. "The Colorado Plateau is an extremely fragile ecosystem and my big plea to developers and the Bureau of Reclamation is to consider the animals, plants, reptiles and other creatures that live here. Somehow we've got to teach people that we cannot grow at the expense of other species."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com