Risks to the Glen Canyon Dam that the resulting flood would scour the bottom few hundred feet of the Grand Canyon, overtop Hoover Dam, and cause severe damage all along the lower Colorado River. In the event of a complete dam failure with Lake Powell at high pool, about of water would surge out of Lake Powell at an initial depth of over . Downstream communities and perhaps every dam along the river, excluding possibly Hoover Dam, as well as riverside lowlands, would be inundated or severely damaged. Located downstream from Glen Canyon Dam are Hoover Dam forming Lake Mead, Davis Dam forming Lake Mohave, Parker
Course of the Colorado River of this water is used for irrigation in the Mexicali Valley, one of Mexico's most fertile agricultural regions. Below the Morelos Dam the Colorado forms the international border for a short distance, between Baja California and Arizona, before reaching the Southern International Boundary at San Luis Rio Colorado, where it crosses entirely into Mexico. For the remainder of its course to the Gulf, the river forms the boundary between Baja California (west) and Sonora (east). "River", however, is a misnomer as the Colorado is dry or small stream most of the year, due to its flow being almost completely exhausted