Hydrologist

"Bigger lakes may increase the risk of catastrophic dam failure," Joseph Shea, a glacier hydrologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, told the magazine Science.

Some experts see today’s action as only a short-term fix. While the USBR is “very focused on just getting through this to next year”, any cuts would probably need to be in place far longer, University of Oxford hydrologist Kevin Wheeler said.