Grand Canyon washed by billions of gallons of water
Intentional flooding should produce new habitats
March 26, 1996
Web posted at: 3:30 p.m. ESTPAGE, Arizona (CNN) -- Water gushed from spillways of the Glen Canyon Dam into the Grand Canyon so fast Tuesday it could have filled the Empire State Building in less than 20 minutes. (697K QuickTime movie)
But it wasn't any sort of disaster. It was the first day of a well-planned scientific experiment aimed at improving the river habitat downstream.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt pushed a button, cranked a lever and turned a wheel at dawn to open the first of four huge valves, releasing millions of gallons of water from Lake Powell behind the dam. Over the next week, more than 115 billion gallons of water are expected to pour into the canyon.
Spectators and scientists, many of whom have been planning this day for 15 years, watched the start of the experiment.
As the water poured through a 700-foot arch, a constant echoing boom bounced off the canyon's walls and pierced the usually tranquil dawn. By midmorning, the dam's other three spillways were pumping out water.
"I think this is a new beginning -- a new chapter," Babbitt said. (115K AIFF sound or 115K WAV sound) "If we want to protect the Grand Canyon and protect our national heritage, we need to think of how we can do a better job of running this dam."
The water's release is expected to gradually raise the level of the Colorado River by 10 to 15 feet.
The flood should stir up sediment below the dam and redistribute it through the Grand Canyon.
Scientists hope the nutrient-rich sediment will create hundreds of new beaches downstream where plant life can take hold, providing food to fish and birds. They also hope water will build up in dozens of backwater canyons so native freshwater fish will survive.
The $2.7 million flood is the first scientifically documented manmade flood in the United States and marks a shift in government focus from the dam's ability to generate power to its impact on the environment.
About three million people in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming receive power from the dam, which is overseen by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. The dam supplies about 15 million people in those states, as well as California and Mexico, with water.
Babbitt called it "a new era for ecosystems, a new era for dam management, not only for the Colorado but for every river system and every watershed in the United States."
He said similar efforts might be launched in other parts of the country, including the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest and Florida's Everglades.
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