Beneath the Surface and Ahead of the Bow: Lake Powell’s Debris Problem After Years of Drought

In the spring of 2023, as Lake Powell began recovering from the most severe low-water period in its history, the National Park Service issued warnings that many boaters didn’t expect: watch out for large debris. Spring runoff was pushing the water level up and back into canyon arms that had been exposed for months, and as it did, it was moving things, large ones, that had settled during the drought years. Boaters above Halls Crossing were specifically warned to exercise extreme caution. The lake that millions of people think of as a wide-open playground had, in the space of a few drought years, become a place where what was below the surface could damage or sink a boat above it.

The drought period of 2021 through 2023 dropped Lake Powell to its lowest elevation since it first filled in the 1960s. At peak low water, the reservoir sat nearly 200 feet below its target level. In practical terms, that meant that areas which had been under significant depth of water were suddenly accessible, or nearly so, to someone walking the shoreline. Vessels that had been hidden in 40 or 50 feet of water were now visible. Canyon arms that had been navigable boating corridors were suddenly shallow enough to expose the wrecks, debris piles, and discarded equipment that had accumulated on the lakebed over decades.

Then the water started coming back. And it brought debris with it.

This is a cycle that will repeat. The American West’s relationship with water scarcity is long-term, and Lake Powell’s management under Colorado River Compact obligations means water levels will continue to fluctuate with drought, runoff, and upstream demand. Every time the lake drops, it exposes more of what’s been left behind. Every time it rises, it moves some of that material into navigational hazards. The debris problem and the water level problem are not separate issues. They are the same issue.

What the NPS warnings in 2023 revealed, implicitly, is that years of heavy recreational use had left behind a lakebed that is neither clean nor safe. The objects washing around in the rising water aren’t natural. They are the residue of a recreational culture that brought millions of visitors and thousands of vessels to a desert reservoir and did not have adequate systems for recovering what those visitors left behind, intentionally or not. Sunken vessels. Vehicles that went off ledges. Equipment lost during storms. Dock materials and floating structures that broke free and settled. All of it has been accumulating for sixty years.

We believe the solution has to be proactive and systematic. Warning boaters about debris is a necessary short-term response. The long-term answer is removing the debris before the water comes back, before it becomes a navigational hazard, before it breaks apart and spreads contamination through the water column. That requires a team that can operate at low-water access points, identify submerged material, and extract it while conditions allow.

That is the work Fathom Restoration is committed to doing. We are building the capacity to operate on Lake Powell and across Utah’s major lakes as a dedicated underwater debris removal organization, not waiting for accidents, not waiting for the water to expose what’s been hidden, but going in and getting it out. Waterway cleanup in Utah requires this kind of proactive investment. The lake cannot clean itself.

If you boat on Lake Powell, if you love the canyon country it sits within, or if you simply believe that the water millions of Utahns and visitors depend on deserves to be clean, we need your support. Report submerged debris, donate to fund our operations, or sign up to volunteer at fathomrestoration.org.

Fathom Restoration is a disabled-veteran-led Utah 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to lake cleanup and the recovery of submerged vehicles, vessels, and debris from Utah’s lakes and waterways. Donate / Volunteer / Report a vehicle at fathomrestoration.org.

Source: https://www.nps.gov/glca/learn/news/20230609.htm