Is Glen Canyon Dam Obsolete?

As climate changes in the Rockies and the southwest, Lake Powell is gradually shrinking. The debate over Glen Canyon Dam is on again, and this time environmentalists aren't the only ones against it.

2 minute read

June 23, 2016, 6:00 AM PDT

By Philip Rojc @PhilipRojc


Lake Powell

The former Glen Canyon, flooded to create Lake Powell. | Wolfgang Staudt / Flickr

The Colorado River has played host to infrastructural drama for almost a century. Now, amidst drought, its formerly vast water supply is shrinking. A debate has reignited "about whether 20th-century solutions can address the challenges of an epochal 21st-century drought, with a growing chorus of prominent former officials saying the plans fly in the face of a new climate reality."

One of the main criticisms is that Lake Powell (and Lake Mead) waste immense quantities of water. Abrahm Lustgarden describes that in what is "perhaps the most egregious failure for a system intended to conserve water, many [reservoirs] lose hundreds of billions of gallons of precious water each year to evaporation and, sometimes, to leakage underground." Phasing out Glen Canyon Dam would save about 179 billion gallons of water a year, enough to supply Los Angeles. 

Moreover, Glen Canyon Dam's venerable hydroelectric capacity is declining as climate change plays havoc with its reservoir's water level. "Since the dam's power sales are relied on to pay for the operations of other smaller dams and reservoirs used for irrigation in the West, as Glen Canyon financially crumbles, so might the system that depends on it."

Lustgarden notes that in 2015 alone, six smaller dams were deconstructed in the western states, with four more on the Klamath River on their way out. But the politics around Glen Canyon and the Colorado River are on another level entirely, and so far there hasn't been any real movement on the issue. 

Friday, May 27, 2016 in Pacific Standard

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing

The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

7 hours ago - Strong Towns

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14 - Smart Cities Dive

Green Skid Row mural satirizing city limit sign in downtown Los Angeles, California.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents

The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.

July 14 - Los Angeles Public Press