Lake Powell water level up; so is number of visitors

Fifty-three feet and rising — ever so slightly at this point.

The latest report from the shores of Lake Powell shows the level of the lake has come up 53 feet from its lowest point. Inflows to the lake have tapered off, so the level will soon begin its summer drop.

Where the Colorado River was running as high as 70,000 cubic feet per second during the peak of spring runoff, it is currently flowing at around 15,000 cfi.

The current level of the lake is 3,608 feet. When full, the level of the reservoir is 3,700.

It was reported back in April that the lake was expected to rise 45 feet. Cooler temperatures and rain in the Upper Colorado Basin resulted in a higher than expected inflow.

"The nice part about all of this water," said Steve Ward, public relations director for the lake concessionaire, ARAMARK, "is that now all of the ramps are covered with water and open.

"Last year, people heard there was difficulty launching boats. With the higher level, that concern has been eliminated. With the exception of Hite, all of the ramps are open and are expected to be open throughout the summer."

The higher lake level has also resulted in higher visitation.

"We're not quite back to the number of visitors we had in 1999, but visitation this year is well ahead of where we were at this time the past two years," said Ward.

"It's funny, but all the moisture in places like Utah, Colorado and even in California stirred up interest in Lake Powell. People knew the lake was going to come up."

Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States. Officially, it hit the "full" mark of 3,700 feet back in 1980. Since that time the lake level has fluctuated. The average level of the lake since has been around 3,640 feet. It hit its low point this year, dropping 150 feet below 3,700 feet.

The low level was a result of five years of drought where lake inflows were well below average. Bureau of Reclamation hydrologists officially acknowledged the drought was the "driest, five consecutive years in a century of record keeping."