Dead Pool

Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West

James Lawrence Powell

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520268029
• eBook ISBN: 9780520342040
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Meteorology & Climatology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir that has become an emblem of this story. At present, Lake Powell is less than half full. Bathtub rings ten stories tall encircle its blue water; boat ramps and marinas lie stranded and useless. To refill it would require surplus water—but there is no surplus: burgeoning populations and thirsty crops consume every drop of the Colorado River. Add to this picture the looming effects of global warming and drought, and the scenario becomes bleaker still. Dead Pool, featuring rarely seen historical photographs, explains why America built the dam that made Lake Powell and others like it and then allowed its citizens to become dependent on their benefits, which were always temporary. Writing for a wide audience, Powell shows us exactly why an urgent threat during the first half of the twenty-first century will come not from the rising of the seas but from the falling of the reservoirs.


Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir t

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• PART ONE River of Surprise
• ONE The Dam Is Not Going to Break
• TWO Playing Dice with Nature
• PART TWO River of Empire
• THREE Appointment in Samarra
• FOUR One Simple Fact
• FIVE The Reality of Empire
• SIX This Vast Plain of Opulent Soil
• SEVEN Lonely Lands Made Fruitful
• PART THREE River of Controversy
• EIGHT Natural Menace Becomes National Resource
• NINE Shall We Let Them Ruin Our National Parks?
• TEN We Want to Be Dammed
• ELEVEN To Have a Deep Blue Lake
• TWELVE The Biggest Boondoggle
• PART FOUR River of Limits
• THIRTEEN Time Machines
• FOURTEEN A New Climatology
• FIFTEEN Rainmakers
• SIXTEEN Let People in the Future Worry about It
• SEVENTEEN A Hundred Green Lagoons
• PART FIVE River of Tomorrow
• EIGHTEEN River of Law
• NINETEEN The West against Itself
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• NOTES
• INDEX