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Naturg demands her share <br />And that's the point, said Weisheit, the river guide and environmentalist. No <br />amount of tinkering with the dams and the lakes will ever restore the <br />Colorado River to the way it was. The river needs to run freer, even if that <br />means the West has to make do with less water. <br />"We need to face reality," he said, packing up his car for the return trip to his <br />home in Moab, Utah. "We live in a desert. We need to reduce our water use. <br />As long as Glen Canyon Dam is here, the Grand Canyon is at risk." He <br />watches another carload of tourists pull up and snap pictures. <br />"People will still come here," he said. "Moab makes as much money as <br />Page, and it's not dependent on a reservoir that is consumptive, expensive <br />and polluting. When the Grand Canyon is dead, do you think people are <br />going to come out here? And who are they going to blame? The whole world <br />is watching." <br />If the drought persists and Lake Powell falls so low that it can't generate <br />power, a level the lake could reach by 2007, then its economic value will be <br />reduced to local recreation, especially if the bureau begins to manipulate <br />water releases to restart the turbines. <br />The worst -case scenario up and down the river is dead pool, when the lake <br />drops too low to let water out at all. The downriver states could survive on <br />Lake Mead storage, but the river's economy would crash. A dry river would <br />be an environmental catastrophe, Nikolai Ramsey said, and if the lake didn't <br />recover quickly, natural habitat could be lost for years. <br />But Ramsey isn't ready to buy the all -or- nothing equation yet. <br />"We're still in a good place where there is human and environmental synergy <br />possible," he said. "When power is lost and flows become less flexible for <br />resource management actions, then we're in trouble. <br />"Then it becomes more dam vs. Grand Canyon." <br />What keeps him and other river watchers optimistic is that even in a long <br />drought, there's usually a year with normal rain and snow, and normal at this <br />point would buy the Colorado time, maybe enough to keep itself alive. <br />Print This I Email This I Most Popular ( Subscribe I Larger Type I Smaller Type <br />The Arizona Republic - Front Page • Local • Sports • Business • Arizona Living • Opinions • Ads <br />12 News - News • Weather • What's on 12 • About 12 • 12 News Bios • 12 News Today • Jobs at KPNX <br />world & nation I the buzz I Arizona Republic print edition I politics <br />scanners I traffic information I obituaries I photography and multimedia I video I education <br />site map azcentral.com main I news I sports I money I entertainment I style <br />travel health I families I food & home I shop I espahol I weather I maps <br />classified I jobs I cars I real estate I apartments I merchandise I personals <br />customer service I terms of service I contact The Republic I subscribe to The Arizona Republic <br />Newspapers In Education I The Republic in your community I about The Republic I about KPNX -TV I The News Store <br />Copyright 2004, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. <br />USA Today I Gannett Co. Inc. I Gannett Foundation I Real Cities Network <br />Page 5 of 5 <br />http:// Www. azcentral .comispecialslspecia1061 articles /0722colorado- environment.html 7/27/2004 <br />