Lake Mead Shrivels

Living in Vegas, this hits home. It's where we get our water from. Why is this happening? Simple. Too many people demanding something that has never been available in great quantities. The same thing going on here that's going on in California.

Keep it up and we'll see a lot more of these:



Read more @ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/i...storic-low-change-visible-space/#.U8J7i9GwVig

 

that and ignoring the realities of climate change, it will only get worse...

 

I go over the Dam every couple months or so. You can literally WATCH Lake Mead shrivel from your car.

 

How can you ignore the realities of climate change. It changes all the time. Drought is nothing new to the US.

 

So let's not deal with murder. Death happens.

 

and yet idiots in Nevada keep watering their lawns.

 

It isn't like they didn't know they were is the desert when the mob was building Vegas. It is why they built it there. The people can move or pay for their own stupidity of living in the middle of an inhospitable environment. Diverting water from more suitable areas for humans just increases the likelihood that more habitable areas will become inhabitable. It isn't like we are out of land.

 

Drive around Clark County and you will see how many people are turning to Desert Landscaping - or simply not watering their yards to let the grass and other plants die.

For those who DO water, their water bills are getting huge.

And for all the hoopdeelah, the casinos DO NOT use a great deal of water. In fact, several draw water from aquifers under their properties.

 

California has experienced droughts for hundreds and thousands of years. Some have been years long and if happened today, would be a disaster. The greenies in the National Forest Service have let the forests get overburdened with fuel with their constant restrictions on logging, clearing and even recreational use. If the drought continues, much of CA will be lost to wildfires.

 

aquifers also get depleted, fresh water is finite resource...

 

The reality is that the mid latitude rain shield is moving north all over the world. In other words the western desert regions of the US are in for a prolonged period of decreasing rainfall possibly continuing for hundreds of years. This is not unprecedented, tree rings from living and dead trees indicate that 200-400 year droughts are regular occurrences in the region and appear to correlate with slight changes in average worldwide temperatures, with small increases in world average temperatures inducing long term droughts. Incidentally, the 20th century is considered a relatively cool century for average global temperature.

 

Cooler means less moisture. The reason for the drought are the extended El Ninas. People were hoping for an El Nino this year to bring moisture.

 

It depends on where you are whether or not a cooler climate brings more or less moisture. The eastern Pacific has had neither strong La Nina or strong El Nino conditions for years. The last strong El Nino was in 1998.

This year is the best chance of an El Nino in a decade but no one is sure if the huge mass of very warm water in the central Pacific will move far enough east to generate an El Nino.

 

Seeing as it's the end of July and the temps in the Mid Central and Northeast states is below average for almost the entire month, mean ole 'el' didn't arrive. I think it's time to let go of that one now.

 

Lake Mead gettin' smaller and smaller...

Water's Edge: A Shrinking River Threatens the U.S. Southwest
The desert sun beats down from a cloudless sky as Las Vegas landscaper Mat Baroudi roars across Lake Mead in his motorboat.

 

The El Nino will peak in late Autumn, Early Winter so it is still out there. Though predicted to be a super El Nino, the forecasts have been going down for it's peak temperature. It will bring rain to Cali but if followed by La Nina's like the 98 El Nino, drought could return.

 

My friends in Vegas did that years and years ago.. They have beautiful homes and the desert landscaping is quite striking.

 

If El Nino is as big as predicted you all might be surprised how fast this lake fills up. Unfortunately with so many people now living in a desert with so little water it will be sucked dry again in short order. Just ask the Anasazi how it worked out for them when they overpopulated the desert.

 

The biggest factor to increase the flow of the Colorado Basin will be this winter's snowpack. A whole lot of the current rainfall is not adding to the river's flow.

Re the Anasazi. They did not "overpopulate" their area of control. They had a very mysterious but stable society, taking slaves and conducting human sacrifice. The natural cycle simply brought about a drought that forced them to migrate out of the area. As they had no written language, it has almost been impossible to draw a clear picture about their society.

 

Where is the rain water going if not into rivers? Nobody really knows what happened to the Anasazi but the prevailing hypotheses is they overpopulate their resources and when a long term drought occurred there was no safety margin. Just like now they were using every bit of water available when lots was available so when drought came on them their society collapsed as our still might.

 

Ground soaks it up and it migrates to the water table. It has been raining for about 12 hours here and the open ditch that channels storm water runoff in the neighborhood that cuts through part of my property has no water in it as of about 20 minutes ago when I walked past it.

 

Lake Mead is artificial, created by the construction of Hoover Dam. The level of the lake is controlled by how much water is allowed to pass through the dam, not by how much is siphoned out by Las Vegas residents. In 1983, they decided to test the spillways, which had not been tested since the dam was built. How did they do that? They reduced the amount of water going through the dam, and the level of the lake was maxed out, the excess flowed over the spillways. Since then, for whatever reason, the lake water levels have been allowed to continue dropping. Whether it is to scare the people, control the political agenda, or blackmail those who depend on the lake for their livelihoods, this is not a legit crisis. If those in control wanted to, the lake could be replenished in short order. You want proof? Lake Powell, formed by Glen Canyon Dam, which is upstream on the same Colorado River, is not suffering a shortage of water. Why is that? Both lakes have the same water source. More water is being released from Hoover Dam than Glen Canyon Dam, simple math, really.

 

That is interesting. I guess you need to build the aquifer back up before runoff reaches rivers and lakes.

 

It isn't like we have a choice. Gravity decides that.

 

I was at Lake Mead when they opened the spillway. The most awesome man-made thing I've ever witnessed.

Many factors determine the level of Lake Mead. And Las Vegas DOES NOT take out a goodly percentage of water from it. In fact, 93% of the water Las Vegas takes out is returned!

Some water as taken out at Lake Powell. Most of the water is sent downstream where it is used for agricultural purposes. The agency that controls the water throughout the area is responsible for how much water is released from all the dams along the river.