Travel/POI: Glen Canyon Dam (格蘭峽谷大壩), Arizona

Glen Canyon Dam, rising 710 feet above bedrock within the steep, rust-colored sand-stone walls of Glen Canyon, is the second highest concrete-arch dam in the United States, second only to Hoover Dam which stands at 726 feet. It is located on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, near the town of Page. This dam was built from 1956 to 1966 and forms Lake Powell, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the U.S. with a capacity of more than 25 million acre-feet. The operation of Glen Canyon Dam helps ensure an equitable distribution of water between the states of the Upper Colorado River Basin (Colorado, Wyoming, and most of New Mexico and Utah) and the Lower Basin (California, Nevada and most of Arizona). Hydroelectric power produced by the dam’s eight generators helps meet the electrical needs of the West’s rapidly growing population. The power is distributed to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Nebraska. The dam has been controversial since its inception, with environmental activists and others arguing the reservoir was unnecessary and destroyed the canyon’s pristine ecosystem. The environmentalist David Brower called it "America's most regrettable environmental mistake." Human actions built the reservoir. Now human actions are also causing it to shrink. The remedial solutions debate continue.
格蘭峽谷大壩高出基岩 710 英尺，在格蘭峽谷陡峭的鐵鏽色砂石牆內，是美國第二高的混凝土拱壩，僅次於高 726 英尺的胡佛水壩。它位於亞利桑那州北部的科羅拉多河上，靠近佩吉鎮。這座大壩建於 1956 年至 1966 年，形成了鮑威爾湖，是美國最大的人造水庫之一，容量超過 2500 萬英畝英尺。格蘭峽谷大壩的運作有助於確保科羅拉多河流上游各州（科羅拉多州、懷俄明州以及新墨西哥州和猶他州的大部分地區）與下游盆地（加利福尼亞州、內華達州和亞利桑那州的大部分地區）之間的水量公平分配。大壩的八台發電機所產生的水力發電可以滿足西部快速人口成長的電力需求。電力分配給懷俄明州、猶他州、科羅拉多州、新墨西哥州、亞利桑那州、內華達州和內布拉斯加州。大壩自建成以來一直備受爭議，環保人士和其他人認為水庫沒有必要，並破壞了峽谷的原始生態系統。環保人士大衛·布勞爾 (David Brower) 稱其為“美國最令人遺憾的環境錯誤”。人類的作為建造了水庫，但現在人類的作為也正在導致它縮小。關於補救方案的爭論仍再繼續。

Photo Date: 2023.09.17