Dry Lake Mead? 50-50 chance by 2021 seen

[IDemo]

Study cites warming, water use and growing Colorado River deficit

What are the chances that Lake Mead, a key source of water for more than 22 million people in the Southwest, would ever go dry? A new study says it's 50 percent by 2021 if warming continues and water use is not curtailed.

"We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," co-author Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a statement. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest."

"It's likely to mean real changes to how we live and do business in this region," added co-author David Pierce, a Scripps climate scientist.

The experts estimated that the Colorado River system which feeds Lake Mead and Lake Powell, is seeing a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of water per year — an amount that can supply some 8 million people. That water is not being replenished, they noted, and human demand, evaporation and human-induced climate change are fueling the growing deficit

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23130256/

[phantom power]

1. There's a proposal to drain Powell Reservoir and keep Mead Reservoir.

Half the evaporation, as it were.

Of course, sufficiently severe drought and population pressure can swamp any conservation scheme.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. If it was being swamped, there wouldn't be a problem...

:hide:
(sorry)

[phantom power]

3. LOL! Does exposed sediment count as a swamp?

It's all wet and gooey.

[hatrack]

5. It may come to that - helluva lot more people living in Vegas & Laughlin than in Page, AZ

:shrug:

[phantom power]

6. I once saw a representative from GCI give a talk...

and she made the comment that they were more likely to achieve their goal of restoring Glenn Canyon due to water shortages than any other factor. Powell Reservoir would be emptied to reduce evaporation losses and conserve water, not out of any particular sense of aesthetics or moral duty to restore Glenn Canyon per se.

It was so cynical, it brought a tear of admiration to my eye. And probably true.

[ben_meyers]

4. Last fall I drove over the Hoover Dam

on the way to Vegas, and the lake looked awful.


Those intake towers were almost under water the last time I had been there in 2000. I decided to do some research when we got back and found that the lake has been much lower before, I hope it recovers again.

The change in the water level in the lake, while dramatic, is not yet cause for great concern. Boats on the lake have a new set of navigational hazards to face, many of them are unnamed reefs and other obstacles which were previously in deep enough water not to pose a collision risk. But the low levels of the lake are not unprecedented, as the lake levels underwent a similar decrease in the 1960s. Sufficient water remains to meet irrigation and residential needs. Lake Mead is still a huge lake with enough water for the many recreational opportunities for the eight to ten million people who visit it each year. Fluctuations in the lake level are a natural part of its operations. Nevertheless, the sustained dry spell will need to end before the lake’s level returns to more historically normal elevations. Unfortunately for water planners in the region, it is difficult to predict how long this might take. During a drought in the late 1950s, water levels returned to normal within a year. However, it took the lake almost ten years to recover from the record low levels of 1965. Water managers are keeping a careful eye on climate predictions to tell how soon the lake may recover. Meanwhile, satellites like Landsat will be watching for changes in water level that signal the progress of Lake Mead’s recovery.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/LakeMead/

[kestrel91316]

7. The good part of this is that, with Mead bone dry and no electricity

being generated, Vegas won't need to steal White Pine County's aquifers to enable more growth. They'll be hitting negative numbers in that department.

Got to look on the bright side........