美国国家公共电台 NPR--A shrinking Lake Powell is causing costly problems for Page, Arizona

A shrinking Lake Powell is causing costly¹ problems for Page, Arizona

Transcript²

Big cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas that rely on the Colorado River have money to find water elsewhere. But an Arizona town on the shore of Lake Powell is also struggling with its water supply.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Few people thought that water supply would be a problem for Page, Ariz. The little town sits on the shore of Lake Powell, America's second-largest reservoir. And that's the town that built the Glen Canyon³ Dam. But the drought on the Colorado River is so bad that Page now faces a reckoning. From member station KUNC, here's Alex Hager.

ALEX HAGER, BYLINE⁴: A storm sweeps across the red and white sandstone canyons⁵ carved by the Colorado River.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)

HAGER: On the edge of a cliff towering hundreds of feet above the water, Tobyn Pilot walks across a crunchy patch of red dirt and pulls out his keys. Pilot is with the city of Page's Water Department, and he's opening the door to a tiny but important wood-paneled shed. Here, water from the lake is pulled all the way up to the top of the cliff to serve the 7,000 people who live in Page.

TOBYN PILOT: This is the town's water, comes right through the shack⁶. (Laughter). Crazy to think.

HAGER: Page has always taken its water from Lake Powell, but now the reservoir is shrinking so fast, the pipe that used to be under hundreds of feet of water is in danger of popping above the water line. That would leave Page and a neighboring Navajo chapter dry.

BRYAN HILL: They never anticipated the lake actually dropping down to a level where they weren't going to be able to generate, or Page was going to struggle to get water.

HAGER: Page utility manager Bryan Hill's job is to keep taps flowing. And he's stuck with historic missteps, both recent and decades old.

HILL: That just simply wasn't anticipated. That's why we're scrambling⁷ to make a design mod down there now.

HAGER: Design mod means reworking the pipes inside the dam. Right now, welders⁸ are putting together new pipes to connect a backup intake⁹ to Page. But Hill says Page won't have peace of mind until there's a second straw, a little further upstream that would provide redundancy. It's possible, but it won't come cheap.

HILL: It's roughly a $46 million project. And as you can imagine, you're not going to get that kind of money out of 3,500 water customers. That's just not going to happen.

HAGER: Hill says the federal government should be on the hook for that help. After all, the city of Page is only here because workers building the dam in the 1950s needed somewhere to live. Hill says that means federal officials bear some responsibility for making sure the city has adequate water supply. The federal agency in charge of the dam says it's committed to working with the city of Page and offering assistance but hasn't yet drawn¹⁰ up plans to distribute the $4 billion it got from the Inflation Reduction Act. The new challenges in Page are a warning sign to Kathryn Sorensen.

KATHRYN SORENSEN: Climate change means that the flows of the Colorado River will continue to diminish.

HAGER: Sorensen is the former water department director for Phoenix¹¹, one of the big cities that draws heavily from the Colorado. Now she researches water policy at Arizona State University.

SORENSEN: And so for those communities that are dependent on Colorado River, they need to be looking around at their infrastructure¹², their alternative supplies and developing means to be able to continue safe, reliable deliveries at the tap.

HAGER: She's talking about roughly 40 million people there in places like Los Angeles and Denver. Sorensen says it's not just climate change putting city water supplies at risk. The water delivery system in the southwest is getting old.

SORENSEN: So I think you're going to see pressures from both sides. And I think that that might be really humbling¹³ for some of our communities.

HAGER: And whether the money comes from federal coffers or increased water rates, Sorensen says small towns and big cities alike will need to react quickly to steel their systems against climate change. For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Page, Ariz.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOUR TET'S "CIRCLING")

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

6 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

7 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 welders   

n.焊接工( welder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifty welders were declared redundant. 已公布削减五十名焊工。 来自辞典例句
• Arcs more readily than AC welders, with longer arcing. 起弧比交流电容易，电弧加长一倍。 来自互联网

9 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网