Western US Waterways Experience Significant Changes Due to Snowpack and Water Releases

Federal operators of the Glen Canyon Dam in Colorado have opened jets to send a "pulse" of water through the Grand Canyon, the first simulated flood in five years, to revitalize canyon ecosystems. The "High Flow Experiment" will require 270,000 acre-feet of water, enough to sustain more than half a million households for a year. Federal officials based their decision on the relatively heavy high mountain snowpack this year along headwaters of the Colorado River. The Colorado River has been declared the nation's most "endangered" river due to a lack of flooding, and the simulated floods are a critical step toward reviving the Grand Canyon.