America's Lake Powell reaches record low, experts warn against propping; Utah Governor says it's not time to let the lake go

Lake Powell reaches historic low in August Lake Powell has fallen to a record-low elevation, 20 feet lower than it was at the beginning of 2026. The decline is not unexpected as scientists have been warning against this approaching doom. Lake Powell is the second-largest man-made reservoir in the YS by totak capacity, second to Lake Mead downstream.Situated primarily within San Juan, Kane, and Garfield counties in Utah, with its southern tip anchored in Coconino County, Arizona, Lake Powell was created by the impoundment of the Colorado River via the massive Glen Canyon Dam. Extending roughly 186 miles upstream into deep sandstone canyons, Lake Powell sits at the heart of the Colorado River Basin system, serving as the critical hydrological junction between the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, and the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada, as well as Mexico.Lake Mead also reached its historic low, straining the Colorado River System.Salt Lake Tribune reported that the reclamation bureau Friday released its two-year operating plan. According to it, the Trump administration won’t force Utah and other Upper Basin states to cut their Colora...