NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Friday, March 22, 1996 5A Government set to flood canyon to make amends Dam will flow to save environment, wildlife of the Grand Canyon Nothing will return the canyon to its pristine pre-dam days, and the effects of the week-long flood may well be temporary. But when the experiment is finished, scientists might get a better understanding of how much water to release, and at what time of day, to help protect the environment. So it's staging a flood. PHOENIX — After 33 years of wreaking havoc on the Grand Canyon, the government wants to make amends. The purpose is to restore the Grand Canyon's beaches and wildlife that have vanished because of micromanagement of the flow of water through the dam. The flood is a departure for the government, which for most of the past three decades has manipulated the flow to suit the needs of power companies. "This event is our first attempt to operate the dam for environmental purposes," said David Wegner, program manager for the U.S. Bureau The four 8-foot-wide jet tubes at Glen Canyon Dam will be opened Tuesday, sending water rushing into the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon at a rate fast enough to fill Chicago's Sears Tower in 17 minutes. The Associated Press Barfoot Juana of Reclamation, the government's damm a n g i ng agency. 9th & Iowa Millcrest Shopping Center three million people in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming rely on the dam for power. The dam also provides drinking water for about 15 million people in those states, along with California and Mexico. Since the dam was built in 1963, the river's every fluctuation, its color, its temperature, its beaches and even the fish have been meticulously managed. As a result, the river has evolved into something nature never intended. Originally a warm, muddy red river, the Colorado now runs cold and clear green, its sediment left behind the dam in Lake Powell. Cold water has turned the area below the dam into one of the nation's premiere fishing spots for rainbow trout, a breed exotic to the area. Cottonwood trees, also foreign have popped up in the canyon. MAKE TRACKS TO THE IGUANA lights, and was reduced to a trickle at night. But environmentalists insisted that the canyon needs free-flowing water; no nutrient-rich sediment means no beaches and no plants for some endangered animals. "It was crazy. You'd have this totally schizophrenic river," said Brad Dimock, who has led wooden boats through the Grand Canyon since 1971. "The boat would get beached, or the river would wash away the boat and the camp kitchen if you weren't careful." releases of water have made their jobs dangerous and washed away favorite beaches and wildlife. For about 10 years now, the government has toyed with water levels, hoping to find the right mix to keep everyone happy. But the power companies claim the fluctuations during the past decade have cost them as much as $100 million. And some of those costs, they say, are passed on to ratepayers. 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