Water is unleashed from Glen Canyon Dam towards the Grand Canyon in the United States - an experiment to mimic natural floods and recharge the ecosystem.



More than 300,000 gallons (1.1m litres) of water per second gushed from giant steel tubes into the river - the equivalent of turning on 1.3m garden hoses simultaneously.



US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, in the blue shirt at the railing, released the valves. He said the volume of water could fill the Empire State Building in 20 minutes.



The manmade flood will carry rich sedimentary residue to nourish the Grand Canyon area, improving the fish habitat in the river and rebuilding beaches.



Water levels along the Colorado river rose quickly after the flood was released. Since the dam was built in 1963, 98% of the sediment carried by the river has been lost.



Before then the river, near the Arizona-Utah border, was muddy, and natural flooding built up sandbars essential to native plant and fish species.



After the flood ends on Friday, it is hoped the water will leave behind sediment, and restore sandbars, as it goes back to normal levels.

This isn't the first time they've done it.
But still cool to see none the less...

Although it's like the only news in the US, well other then this guy got killed, this guy got robbed, this guy got shot... Hillary this, Obama that... Doom and gloom I tell ya.

Local News is on basically 50% of the time on every damn channel, and they have like 5 stories to run... over and over... It never ends.

All that water makes me have to go pee!!!

I was just down that way over the weekend for a bike "race" (more like an organized fundraiser ride).  Just a beautiful area.  I guess that flooding policy has as many detractors as it has supporters.  Some say the only reason they do it is to flush the sand out of the dam, at the cost of the ecosystem downstream.  Who knows who to believe.  As Richard said, the news just can't seem to report anything that doesn't more or less communicate "you're getting screwed - found out by whom tonight at 10!"

I checked out the video yesterday. I think this is just a ploy to clean up under the dam. Maybe it'll work, who knows

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And the Lord said unto John; Come forth and receive eternal life. But John came fifth and won a toaster.

I've seen it happen twice now and think it's a half assed flash flood style release... They can't release enough to mimmic a REAL flash flood with dirt and debris, but it does indeed help the fishes...