Colorado River as 2 billion years. The of the river that flow through the Grand Canyon are largely encompassed by Grand Canyon National Park and are known for their difficult whitewater, separated by pools that reach up to in depth. At the lower end of Grand Canyon, the Colorado widens into Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the continental United States, formed by Hoover Dam on the border of Arizona and Nevada. Situated southeast of metropolitan Las Vegas, the dam is an integral component for management of the Colorado River, controlling floods and storing water for farms and cities in the lower
Risks to the Glen Canyon Dam annually at Glen Canyon, and as Lake Powell is the farthest large reservoir upstream on the Colorado River mainstem, the sediment load is completely trapped in the reservoir as the Colorado discharges into it. This sediment is creating a steadily advancing "toe" of sediment, i.e. an underwater alluvial fan, that is advancing towards the dam. It is estimated that the sediment will reach the dam base in a minimum as low as eighty to one hundred years or as far as 500 to 700 years, although it will take much more time for the sediment deposited there to reach higher