Glen Canyon Dam Operations

Releases from Glen Canyon Dam in October 2007 will average 9,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) with a total of 600,000 acre-feet scheduled to be released for the month. On Mondays through Fridays in October, daily release fluctuations due to load following will likely vary between a low of 6,500 cfs (during late evening and early morning off-peak hours) to a high of 12,500 cfs (during daylight and early evening on-peak hours). On Saturdays and Sundays, release fluctuations will likely vary between a low of 6,500 cfs to a high of 12,000 cfs.

Releases in November 2007 will likely be similar to October.  The current schedule shows 600,000 acre-feet of release in November 2007, which corresponds to an average flow of 10,100 cfs.

The once tranquil waters of Lake Mead at the end of the Grand Canyon near Pearce Ferry, Arizona continue to change quickly, as the Colorado River is reclaiming 50 miles of territory that once was the flat reservoir of Lake Mead.

With the ninth year of drought continuing, Lake Mead has dropped 119 feet, and as the river down cuts into lake sediment, it no longer follows its historic river bed. The "reborn" river now channels full-force into hillsides, crosses once-buried ridges and travels through rocky saddles far removed from the pre-lake river bed.

Approximately one mile north of Pearce Ferry, at river mile 280.8, the river now flows over a saddle between hills and then straight into a gravel hillside. At Devil's Cove, mile 292.4, the new river channel is a half mile from the historic river bottom and now flows through a saddle lined with very hard limestone outcroppings of rock on all sides of the river channel.

While the lake level is still high enough to cause no more than a riffle at Devil's Cove, a rapid has developed near Pearce Ferry, called Pearce Ferry Rapid.