Two arcs of water began spewing from the base of the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona on Wednesday as the federal government began a manmade flood to help restore the Grand Canyon’s ecosystem.

“This gives you a glimpse of what nature has been doing for millions of years, cutting through and creating this magnificent canyon,” Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne told the Associated Press after he pulled the lever releasing the water.

More than 300,000 gallons of water per second were being released from Lake Powell above the dam near the Arizona-Utah border, enough water to fill the Empire State Building in 20 minutes, Kempthorne said.

The water level in the Grand Canyon will only rise a few feet as a result of the three-day flood, which officials hope will restore sandbars on the Colorado River downstream from the dam.

Officials have created a manmade flood in the canyon twice before, in 1996 and 2004, as part of efforts to mimic natural cycles on the river.

Before the dam was built in 1963, the Colorado 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.

Technorati Tags: grand canyon, glen canyon dam, lake powell, colorado river

(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

 Loading ...