AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
America's two biggest reservoirs are both on the drought-shrunken Colorado River. One is Lake Powell, an important tourist destination for Utah. It's had to close two marinas as its water level continues to drop and now move a third. And as member station KUER's David Condos reports, that's no small task.
DAVID CONDOS, BYLINE: For Dave and Gaye Babcock, the red rock cliffs and azure blue waters of Lake Powell are like part of the family.
DAVE BABCOCK: We've had a lot of good memories here, and I hope they can keep us coming back.
CONDOS: The couple from northern Utah got engaged here three decades ago. His daughter's wedding was right here at Bullfrog Bay. But as drought, overuse and climate change have shrunk Lake Powell, its water level now sits more than 150 feet lower than it did in 1996.
GAYE BABCOCK: I'm shocked because this whole flat was covered with water, and to see it now, I wouldn't even believe that we're at the same place.
D BABCOCK: This is it. Oh, just getting ready to go.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELECTRONICS BUZZING)
D BABCOCK: We have the latest electronics. We have electronics here on the dash that we can read navigation. We can read...
CONDOS: The Babcocks had been thinking about visiting the lake in the fall, but Dave decided it would be too risky to wait. Lake Powell is forecast to hit record lows later this year.
D BABCOCK: We thought we'd better go get it wet before we can't put it in Lake Powell, or Lake Puddle as we was calling it this morning.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY BEEPING)
CONDOS: Here at Bullfrog Bay, the marina where hundreds of houseboats dock, is preparing to move. It'll be pushed by several tugboats three miles across the lake to deeper water. It's a huge job that started in May. If the marina doesn't move, it would likely be sitting on dry ground next month. Now, the most recent data from the National Park Service, which runs recreation here, says Lake Powell visitors spent more than $500 million in nearby communities in 2024.
MICHAEL PALMQUIST: Traffic to the lake is definitely a huge economic impact.
CONDOS: That's Michael Palmquist with North Lake Powell Adventures, a local outfitter. He says social media posts sensationalizing the lake situation may scare some people away this summer. But even with the marina moving out, he's hopeful visitors will still be able to launch boats from Bullfrog's ramps for the next couple of months.
PALMQUIST: I wouldn't necessarily use the word concerned. You know, I'm interested and curious to see how that's going to affect travel.
CONDOS: But the West's water crisis will extend far beyond this summer. Jack Schmidt at Utah State University coauthored a recent report warning that just one more dry year could deplete all the readily accessible water in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, nearly 300 miles downstream.
JACK SCHMIDT: If we don't change our behavior and our use patterns, then we will be in unprecedented territory.
CONDOS: To help Lake Powell, the federal government recently began releasing extra water from a big upstream reservoir called Flaming Gorge. But Schmidt says that will only slow the lake's decline, not reverse it.
SCHMIDT: It sounds a little bit flippant, but to some extent, the movement of water from Flaming Gorge to Lake Powell is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs, but the reality is the ship continues to sink.
CONDOS: He says the only way out of this jam is for the West's cities and farms to use way less water. Meanwhile, the seven states that rely on the Colorado River remain deadlocked over how to divvy up its shrinking water supply, and their current river-sharing agreement expires this fall.
For NPR News, I'm David Condos at Lake Powell in Utah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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