Lake meeting draws mix of ideas

With water levels in the Colorado River expected to remain about 60 percent of normal, according to reports, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation held a public meeting Thursday to gather opinions on the future of Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

About 40 people attended the meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Salt Lake City to discuss the development of management strategies for the lakes under low reservoir conditions.

People offered verbal and written comments on the matter and Terry Fulp, area manager of the bureau's Boulder Canyon operations office in Nevada, said opinions on the lakes' futures varied significantly.

"It was a mixed deal, and that's exactly what we expected," he said. "This is the start of the public process."

A proposal by Living Rivers — an environmental organization aimed at maintaining the Colorado River's ecology — called for underground storage of the river's water as a solution, and at least one person suggested Glen Canyon Dam be destroyed and Lake Powell be drained.

According the report issued by Living Rivers, evaporation from large reservoirs like Lake Powell and Lake Mead causes the loss of nearly 17 percent of the water that reaches the reservoirs each year. Additionally, the Colorado River will only reach about 60 percent of normal this year, even with average rainfall this spring, according to the report.

The group's proposal calls for surface water to be introduced, through mechanical pumps and percolation methods, to underground aquifers. Underground storage would reduce evaporation losses to just 1 percent, according to the report.

Fulp said the bureau was given a December 2007 deadline by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton to file an environmental impact statement on the issue.

Thursday's meeting comes two days after a similar meeting in Las Vegas. As the meeting was only the beginning of the process, Fulp said, most of the comments given during the forum were not detailed solutions.

The Reclamation Bureau will take public comment until Aug. 31, Fulp said. At that point, he said, officials will assess all of the comments and prepare a preliminary report, before opening the matter back up to the public in the fall.

"We just wanted to gather some opinion and let them start chewing on this," Fulp said, "because it's not going to be easy."

Those interested in commenting on the issue can do so by e-mailing the Reclamation Bureau's upper Colorado River office at strategies@uc.usbr.gov.

---

E-mail: afalk@desnews.com