Our cover story on the Grand Canyon chronicles the latest struggle between environmentalists and more traditional water interests over the Colorado River. At the center of the debate is Glen Canyon Dam, which Barry Goldwater once described as one of the few legislative accomplishments he regretted. But when the dam was new, confidence was high and spirits soared on wings of purple prose. To celebrate, the Bureau of Reclamation published a booklet entitled Lake Powell: Jewel of the Colorado which boasted that the new dam had "tamed the wild river — made it a servant to man's will" and predicted that "it will endure as long as time endures." To really put the accomplishment in perspective, BuRec offered the following free-form verse:

To have a deep blue lake
Where no lake was before
Seems to bring man
A little closer to God.

In case you missed the point, that's "closer to God" as in, demi-gods. They don't make men (or dams) like that any more.

Webheads Rejoice!

The Water Center proudly announces its Home Page on the World-Wide Web! We know what you're thinking — your neighbor's dog just got a Web home page. OK, so we're not pioneers here. But our home page is different. Unlike so many home pages on the Web, ours is well-designed and useful. Turn to Special Projects on page 7 for details on how to access it.

Lake Havasu & Spring Break

Our Web home page might have been complete a bit sooner, but for the annual bacchanal known as Spring Break. One of our techheads split for Lake Havasu, official Way-Cool site for the 1995 spring break. Regulators and scientists remain baffled by the source of bacterial contamination that closed Lake Havasu beaches last summer. Even aerial surveillance by NASA's remote sensing equipment failed to detect the likely source.

Meanwhile, MTV televised footage of beer-swilling, sun-block-coated students boating, vomiting, cannonballing and otherwise scaring the fish. But the source of contamination remains a mystery. Go figure...

Antarctica Doom

Those who relish the cheap thrill of believing that The End is Near will enjoy the latest from Antarctica. The Weddell Sea and Larsen ice shelves are breaking up, sending icebergs the size of Rhode Island drifting north and exposing a rocky landscape buried beneath ice for 20,000 years. The resulting decrease in albedo will further increase temperatures and alter ocean currents at the bottom of the globe. Catastrophic global flooding may result.

Rivers are Forever Changing

The confounding saga of American Rivers and its telephone numbers continues. Readers may recall that the November-December AWR announced the closing of its Phoenix office. By January, the Tucson office was scheduled for closing, while the Phoenix office was to remain open, with changes in personnel and phone numbers. Then came the February AWR announcing new American Rivers telephone numbers. Just when we thought it was safe to turn the Rolodex, yet another set of numbers is announced. The new, revised American Rivers phone number is 602-234-3946 (previously the fax number); the new fax number is 602-234-2217. Stay tuned for further developments.

Yes, We Have no Spaghetti

Floods were in the news again, triggered by unseasonably heavy rains this spring. Usually concerned with threats to life, property and well-being, the media uncovered other damage this time. A March 8 Arizona Republic story began, "No one ate spaghetti Wednesday at the Grand Canyon." The story related how landslides from heavy rains washed out sections of pipeline supplying the south rim with water, preventing restaurants from boiling pasta. The same edition of the Republic offered a story on the latest plague to hit southern California — snakes. The San Diguito River overflowed its banks and washed dozens of dazed serpents onto San Diego beaches.

Coming in Future Issues

Our next issue will review new laws passed by the Arizona legislature that impact water resources management. We'll also describe a project to improve water quality sampling along the U.S.-Mexico border.

As always, your letters, faxes and e-mail on previous issues and new story ideas are welcome.