Hoover Dam Approaches a Hydropower Cliff

[Brenda]

Some day in the next 12 months—maybe in late August, maybe not until next spring— Lake Mead will drop below the critical threshold of 1,035 feet above sea level.

That is the water-level elevation at which hydropower generating capacity at Hoover Dam, the largest in the Colorado River basin, will be cut by 70 percent. The drastic and immediate reduction in a cheap source of power that is responsive to hourly changes in electricity demand will have consequences for the region’s power customers and the broader electric grid alike.

Water managers have known for at least a year and a half that elevation 1,035 feet will be a problem for Hoover’s hydropower. Twelve of the dam’s 17 turbines are not designed to operate in low-water conditions that would be present when Mead is below that level. After record-low winter runoff into already-depleted reservoirs, water managers now know that the day of reckoning is coming soon.

Wake Up America!

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12062026/hoover-dam-approaches-a-hydropower-cliff/

[kimbutgar]

1. I used to watch these videos on YouTube of this guy driving his boat on lake mead showing how low the water level is

This looks worst now !

[Just Jerome]

2. Right!

Thank you for the alert.

[Aussie105]

4. The alert has been there for quite a while.

What to do to prepare for it, is the question.

[Just Jerome]

5. True

[Aussie105]

3. Climate change!

A lot of civilizations in the past have disintegrated because the rainfall went away.

Las Vegas without the lights and 24/7 AC will become a ghost town.

[lonely bird]

6. No offense to anyone who lives there

Vegas shouldn’t have been built in the first place.

[paleotn]

7. They've known for quite a while but they still can't make it rain...or snow in this case.

[hunter]

8. Hoover Dam couldn't power one large data center.

The utilities it serves have already written it off as a reliable power source.

In my perfect world we'd tear down these dams and free the Colorado River.

[CoopersDad]

9. Human uses take 100% of the Colorado River water before it can reach the sea.

It was bound to happen.