LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Environmental officials are releasing billions of gallons of water from Lake Powell in Arizona that will snake through the Grand Canyon and eventually into Lake Mead.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is working with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct a High Flow Experiment (HFE) over the next three days. It will be the first HFE since 2018.
Federal officials say the conditions were right to make the move this week. Normally, releases from the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell to supply water to Lake Mead happen in the Fall.
According to a statement by the National Park Service (NPS), the release will peak for 72 hours at a rate of 39,500 cubic feet per second.
In their bi-weekly operations update, NPS officials noted that the HFE will result in "large quantities of water being released into Lake Mead in the coming days."
To prepare, crews at Lake Mead are temporarily closing Pearce Ferry Launch Ramp to prepare for the high-water event this week.
The ramp up began Monday at 2:00 a.m. and is in full flow until Thursday when dam officials will ramp it back down. Lake Powell's water levels are expected to drop four-and-a-half feet during the release.
However, this is not a normal water allocation operation.
The massive flow is intended to actually restore sandbars, beaches, and campsites used by Grand Canyon visitors, along with helping to preserve important archaeological sites along the river.
The NPS says the release was designed to move accumulated sediment from the Paria River up onto beaches and sandbars in Marble Canton and eastern Grand Canyon.
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High Flow Experiments in the region are done under the responsibilities and requirements of the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act.
In a public statement, the NPS said, "the 1992 Grand Canyon Protection Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to manage Glen Canyon Dam in such a way as to 'protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area were established.'"
This, and previous HFEs, provide researchers opportunities to assess if the practice can be a proven way to restore geologic elements of Grand Canyon recreation areas.
The water used in this experiment will benefit Lake Mead, however it will not affect the amounts of water that Lake Mead is allotted for 2023.
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