Open Colorado River Floodgates

2008/03/13 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ekologia
• Hidrologia

A huge amount of water was poured into the Grand Canyon on March 5 and 6. Over a thousand liters per second were emitted for 60 hours. In the image you can see the dam gates open.

The giant spill was part of an experiment that began twelve years ago and was the third that took place in that period. The objective of the experiment is to improve the habitats located downstream of the river dam.

From the dam the size of the sand banks has been reduced to a quarter, since many sediments do not cross the dam. The influence of this type of waste is being studied, due to the strong increase in the amount of sediments below the dam. It is believed that this will result in an improvement of the habitats of diarrheal living beings such as Gila cypha, a fish endemic to the Colorado River.

Photo: GCMRC