Claim: Lake Powell straddles the border between Utah and Arizona along the Colorado River.

Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River , straddling the border between Utah and Arizona -LRB- most of it , along with Rainbow Bridge , is in Utah -RRB- . It is a major vacation spot that around two million people visit every year . It is the second largest man-made reservoir by maximum water capacity in the United States behind Lake Mead , storing 24,322,069 acre.ft of water when full . However , due to high water withdrawals for human and agricultural consumption , and because of subsequent droughts in the area , Lake Powell is currently larger than Lake Mead in terms of volume of water currently held , depth and surface area .   Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam , which also led to the creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , a popular summer destination . The reservoir is named for explorer John Wesley Powell , a one-armed American Civil War veteran who explored the river via three wooden boats in 1869 .   In 1972 , Glen Canyon National Recreation Area was established . It is public land managed by the National Park Service , and available to the public for recreational purposes . It lies in parts of Garfield , Kane , and San Juan counties in southern Utah , and Coconino County in northern Arizona . The northern limits of the lake extend at least as far as the Hite Crossing Bridge . A map centered at the confluence of the Escalante River with the Colorado River gives a good view of the extent of the lake .   Lake Powell is a water storage facility for the Upper Basin states of the Colorado River Compact -LRB- Colorado , Utah , Wyoming , and New Mexico -RRB- . The Compact specifies that the Upper Basin states are to provide a minimum annual flow of 7500000 acre.ft to the Lower Basin states -LRB- Arizona , Nevada , and California -RRB- .