Water shortages at Lake Mead have drawn all the attention in recent years. Now water rationing has reached far into the Colorado River’s snowy headwaters, prompting concern about the long-term operation of Lake Powell. Lake Powell and the surrounding area, seen from the Wahweap Overlook in Page, Arizona, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on July 13, 2018. Like rust slowly consuming the body of a car, drought has spread upstream on the Colorado River. The river’s Upper Basin – generally north of Lake Powell – has been largely insulated from the 19-year drought afflicting the giant watershed, thanks to the region’s relatively small water demand and heavy snows that bury Colorado’s 14,000ft peaks each winter. But this year, there was no salvation in the snowpack. Several major Colorado River tributaries – the Dolores, San Juan and Gunnison rivers – saw record-low snowpack this winter. Others, including the […]