Babbitt Signs Water Flow Rules for Grand Canyon

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed regulations Wednesday giving environmental concerns precedence over power needs in managing the Colorado River’s flow through the Grand Canyon.

The landmark measure, restricting a power cooperative’s ability to send wildly fluctuating amounts of water through the Glen Canyon Dam, is expected to serve as a blueprint for dam operations across the United States.

“We have now provided protection to the Colorado River,” Babbitt said. “This marks a sea change in the way we view the operation of large dams. We have shown they can be operated for environmental purposes as well as water capture and power generation.”

The order follows six years of research into the environmental changes caused by the Glen Canyon Dam. The studies, including a man-made flood last March, concluded that the canyon’s ecosystem had been choked by three decades of extreme daily fluctuations in water releases from the dam, along with the absence of natural seasonal flooding.