Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West

In his book “Dead Pool” author James Lawrence Powell talks about the emptying of the arid West’s precious reservoirs, Lake Powell. This reservoir was created when the Colorado River was dammed in 1963, submerging Glen Canyon, one of the planet’s most spectacular places. The reservoir was a recreational haven until 2005, when it fell to one-third of its capacity. Given the enormous water needs of our desert metropolises—Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix—this is a catastrophe in the making. Powell presents a scientifically grounded inquiry into the grievous failure of the West’s megadams, which for all their colossal expense and engineering marvels wreak environmental havoc now exacerbated by global warming.