Flaming Gorge

More than 200 dams across Utah are classified as high hazard, meaning they’d pose a significant threat to people and property downstream if they failed.

The Bureau of Reclamation is responding to a request from Utah and its neighbors and suspending the releases from the 3rd-largest reservoir on the Colorado River that were propping up Lake Powell.

Arizona, California and Nevada agree in principle with the idea, but urge other states and the Bureau of Reclamation to keep an eye on runoff.

Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are asking the Bureau of Reclamation to pause the water releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir that are helping prop up Lake Powell.

Water officials across the West have been negotiating a crisis on the Colorado River. Drought is putting pressure on the 7-state basin, and the nation’s two largest reservoirs recently reached record lows.

A boating and fishing paradise on the Utah-Wyoming line is beginning to feel the effects of the two-decade megadrought gripping the southwestern U.S.

The Bureau of Reclamation announced two measures Tuesday to boost water levels to continue generating hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam.

The releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir come as a response to record lows, which are on course to drop too low to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon dam.