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Three-Day Grand Canyon Flood Aims to Restore
Ecosystem

Amanda Lee Myers in Page, Arizona
Associated
Press

March 6, 2008

Four arcs of water unleashed from a dam
coursed through the Grand Canyon in a flood meant to mimic the natural
ones that used to nourish the ecosystem by spreading sediment.

(See
photo.)

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Glen
Canyon Revealed

Third
Manmade Grand Canyon Flood Planned (February 26, 2008)

PHOTO:
Grand Canyon Flooded (March 5, 2008)

More than 300,000 gallons (more than a million liters) of water per
second were released from Lake Powell above the dam near the Arizona-Utah
border.

That's enough water to fill the Empire
State Building in 20 minutes, said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

"This gives you a glimpse of what nature has been doing for millions of
years, cutting through and creating this magnificent canyon," Kempthorne
said after he pulled the lever Wednesday, releasing the water from Glen
Canyon Dam, upstream from Grand Canyon National Park.

Three-Day Flood

The water gushed from two of four giant steel tubes in parallel arcs
into the Colorado River. By afternoon, water poured from all four tubes,
creating a churning pool beneath the sheer, sandstone canyon walls rising
hundreds of feet.

The water level in the Grand Canyon rose 15 feet (4.6 meters) in some
places.

Officials hope water from the three-day, controlled flood will leave
behind sediment and restore sandbars as it goes back to normal levels.

Officials have flooded the canyon twice before, in 1996 and 2004.

"Clear" Science for Muddy Water

Before the dam was built in 1963, the river was warm and muddy, and
natural flooding built up sandbars that are essential to native plant and
fish species. The river is now cool and clear, its sediment blocked by the
dam.

The change helped speed the extinction of four fish species and push
two others, including the endangered humpback chub, near the edge.

Shrinking beaches have led to the loss of half the camping sites in the
canyon in the past decade.

Since Glen Canyon Dam was built, 98 percent of the sediment carried by
the Colorado River has been lost, Grand Canyon National Park
Superintendent Steve Martin said.

Martin said controlled floods need to occur every time there's enough
sediment to do so—about every one to two years depending on Arizona's
volatile monsoon season.

"The science is really clear that's what we need to do," Martin said.

The Grand Canyon Trust, a Flagstaff-based group that has been critical
of the federal Bureau of Reclamation's management of the dam, also is
calling for more regular high flows.

"The power industry is driving the Bureau of Reclamation more than
anything else, as opposed as to what's best for the canyon," trust
spokesperson Richard Mayol said.

Scientists will document habitat changes and determine how backwater
habitats are used by the chub and other fish. Another study will look at
how higher water flows affect the aquatic food base.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed.

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