Saturday, May 09, 2009

Lake Mead Is Drying Up

Lake Mead Is Drying Up "The combination of a changing climate and a strong demand for the lake’s remaining water has resulted in 100 foot drop since 2000. While that’s just 10 percent under the lake’s high water mark in 1983, Lake Mead is like a martini glass—wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. That 10 percent dip represents a loss of half Lake Mead’s water supply in nine years, from 96 percent capacity to 43 percent."

1 comment:

DKB said...

Ugh... I suppose the author was trying to be dramatic, and it would appear from the middle of the article that he realizes that the problem is the way people are wasting the water, not the total amount of water available that's the problem. Still, the closing line suggesting that massive desalination efforts or pumping water across the Rockies are the only options other than abandoning the Southwest is just ridiculous.

These morons in the Southwest need to understand they live in a DESERT. It's perfectly viable to live in a desert, you just don't have verdant green lawns and perfect fairways, because that's not sustainable in a desert.

It would seem that the Southern Nevada Water Authority is being run by people who should be in front of a firing squad instead of in charge of a regional public utility. I've long said that if people had to pay the true cost of water in the Southwest, a lot of people would move away and a lot more would learn to live well in a desert.