Luke Runyon/KUNC/LightHawk

Glen Canyon Dam

Climate change is quickly drying up Arizona’s two big reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. As water levels plummet, the environmental effects are already being felt across the Southwest. But Tony Davis reports there’s another looming problem the low levels will cause: power supply.

Davis covers the environment for the Arizona Daily Star, and he reminds us that the water from these lakes is also used to churn massive generators in Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies power to millions of people in the region. And right now, Lake Powell sits about 35 feet above the level at which those generators would be turned off.

The Show spoke with Davis to learn what the levels could mean, and what the worse-case scenario is.

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