Why is Colorado River water so cold?

The water flows through and turns the turbines and then flows out into the Colorado River. Because the water intake is significantly below the surface of Lake Powell, the water coming out of the outflow is significantly colder than surface temperatures.



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About 85–90 percent of the Colorado River's discharge originates in melting snowpack from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. The three major upper tributaries of the Colorado – the snow-fed Gunnison, Green, and San Juan – alone deliver almost 9 million acre-feet (11 km3) per year to the main stem.

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Results indicate the Colorado may not be as deep as previously thought. Matt Kaplinski is a geologist at Northern Arizona University and leads the survey project. His data show the median depth of the river is just 25 feet—with the deepest point recorded so far at a little over 87 feet above Phantom Ranch.

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The river is about 30 feet deep in lower reaches of the Grand Canyon; it is not more than 10 feet in the upper reaches above the Grand Junction, Colo. Near Lees Ferry, Ariz., the river's rate of flow is about 8 million gallons per minute (gpm); at the mouth it is about 2 million gpm.

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The Shanay-Timpishka, also known as La Bomba, is a tributary of the Amazon River, called the only boiling river in the world. It is 6.4 km (4.0 mi) long. It is known for the very high temperature of its waters—from 45 °C (113 °F) to nearly 100 °C (212 °F).

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Electricity would not just be the only thing lost. Without Lake Mead, Las Vegas would lose access to 90 percent of its water sources. If Lake Mead were to reach dead pool, it would technically still be able to supply drinking water to Las Vegas. But there will not be enough water for agricultural activities.

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If the water levels dip much lower, the Colorado's northernmost reservoir won't have enough in the tank to both fill Lake Mead downstream and generate any hydropower, which would have devastating effects on the electricity grid in the western US.

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