Zak Podmore

Report for America corps member

Zak is a Report for America corps member covering conflict and change in San Juan County for The Tribune. He has been writing from Bluff, Utah, since 2015 and is the author of Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West from Torrey House Press.

(Ecoflight) An aerial view of the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Potential loss of hydropower at Lake Powell is not the biggest worry, according to new report

By Zak Podmore | August 3, 2022, 8:08 p.m.

Lake Powell and Lake Mead could collapse without more water cuts along the Colorado River, a new paper explains

By Zak Podmore | July 22, 2022, 5:58 p.m.

(Chip Thomas) Moren Binale stands outside the Mexican Hat superfund site May 31, 2022, where he worked on uranium remediation efforts in the 1990s that likely contributed to a chronic lung condition.

He worked to clean up sites contaminated with uranium in San Juan County. When he got sick, it took years to get compensation.

By Zak Podmore | July 1, 2022, 8:53 p.m.

(Ecoflight) House boats are docked on a thin stretch of Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Fill Lake Powell? Coalition calling for more water to be stored in the reservoir faces tough road ahead.

By Zak Podmore | June 27, 2022, 9:08 p.m.

(Ecoflight) An aerial view of Navajo Canyon on Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022.

‘The system is at a tipping point’: Feds say unprecedented cuts needed to balance Colorado River water budget, prop up Lake Powell

By Zak Podmore | June 18, 2022, 2:19 p.m.

(Ecoflight) An aerial view of the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, Thursday, April 14, 2022. As Lake Powell has fallen to record low water levels in recent years, hydroelectricity generated at the dam has been reduced.

What will happen if the Glen Canyon Dam stops generating power?

By Zak Podmore | June 3, 2022, 10:48 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Glen Canyon Institute executive director Erik Balken compares the "Cathedral in the Desert" in Clear Creek Canyon with photos in a historical photo journal of Glen Canyon, on Monday, May 17, 2021.

Only 25 years ago, draining Lake Powell was dismissed as ‘looney’ — then the megadrought started

By Zak Podmore | May 18, 2022, 2:47 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Colorado River carves through sediment that was deposited in Lake Powell when the reservoir was higher, April 10, 2022.

Deltas of sediment are pushing into Glen Canyon as Lake Powell disappears

By Zak Podmore | May 11, 2022, 6:43 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Trees in Iceberg Canyon are exposed by dropping water levels in Lake Powell on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.

Utah, neighboring states agree to emergency plan that will send more water to Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge

By Zak Podmore | April 22, 2022, 12:00 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Skiers at Solitude Mountain Resort, Thursday December 21, 2017.

Solitude settles with former ski patroller who says he was fired after bringing up safety, wage concerns

By Zak Podmore | April 22, 2022, 12:00 p.m.