Lake Mead

[newdayneeded]

12.27 ft from losing 12 turbines at Hoover Dam. We may see mass relocations sooner than we think. At the very least, home values will tank when it's realized the lake is approaching dead pool.

[madville]

1. It's not supposed to be there anyway

Been on borrowed time for quite awhile now.

[2naSalit]

11. +1

[Mr.Bill]

17. And the fountains flow at the casinos. n/t

[jeffreyi]

2. Whoa.

We really can't live in the hot desert without massive external inputs of energy, water, resources. Not very sustainable.

[Journeyman]

7. And the most damaging issue of all, salt . . .

Soil salinity is a major issue in the southwest, and as the region relies increasingly on irrigation to serve its agricultural needs the problem will compound. Already, some of the most productive agricultural regions here are in danger of becoming gradually less fertile.

[Mr.Bill]

21. The whole country and even the world to some extent

relies on the agricultural production of central California's San Joaquin Valley.

[Thunderbeast]

3. It took 50 years for lake Powell to kill Lake Mead

Rainfall forecasts were magical thinking. The combined evaporation from the reservoirs is five percent of the river flow.

Without the Glen Canyon Dam, the drainage would still be in trouble, but the combined loss, and a return to historic precipitation levels is now devastating to the development that the projects stimulated.

John Wesley Powell tried desperately to warn congress in the 19th Century that Arizona would NEVER turn into lush Ohio farmland. He saw the reality. The nation ignored him.

Hayduke Lives!

[panader0]

6. I loved the Monkey Wrench Gang. I live in SW Az and our water tables are going down.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Arizona water tables?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127122294

Saudis find water in Arizona for their alfalfa

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/debate-spreads-about-saudi-dairy-drilling-wells-in-arid-arizona/?utm_source=Reveal%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=01322dac59-The_Weekly_Reveal_11_19_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c38de7c444-01322dac59-229918333

Debate spreads about Saudi dairy drilling wells in arid Arizona

[2naSalit]

12. +1

[hatrack]

13. Average annual evaporation loss from Mead: 500k acre-feet; Powell: 750k acre-feet

Of course, with less surface area these days (a lot less, in fact), not so much of a problem.

Powell is now below 24% of capacity, though the confirmation won't post until tomorrow:

https://lakepowell.water-data.com/

[LakeArenal]

4. But don't give up swimming pools, golf course, and landscaping at the banks.

[MerryBlooms]

10. That shit should be the first to cut off.

On my way to work all last summer, there were 2 gas stations watering strips of grass every day, and most of the water was running into the gutter. There was a subdivision watering a corner, same thing, most of the water goes into the gutter. Made me so angry. Not a dam thing you can do. They have contracts with the city.

[Mr.Bill]

23. Once they are filled, swimming pools use less

water than a lawn.

[LakeArenal]

30. Okay...... we have a pool. We lose water to evaporation.

The dessert needs neither.

[Srkdqltr]

5. Maybe most people aren't supposed to live in the dessert?

[Tickle]

29. 👍 nt

[MerryBlooms]

9. Our lakes in Oregon are at desperate levels.

I'm growing all our vegetables in pots this year to conserve water.

[wnylib]

24. Oregon? I never thought Oregon

had water level problems.

[maxsolomon]

32. SE Oregon is a desert - very empty.

SW Oregon is very similar to N. California.

All of the West is subject to droughts.

[wnylib]

33. Thanks. I did not know that.

My impression of Oregon was cities and forests.

[maxsolomon]

34. The Cascades suck all the moisture out of the air.

Much of Eastern Washington is nearly a desert, and is only agricultural because the Columbia River is diverted at Grand Coulee.

[wnylib]

35. I can see that the mountains would be a problem.

We seldom get dry spells here in western NY, although it does happen sometimes. But not actual drought, just a few days or weeks of mandated reduced water use, and that happens maybe once a decade or less.

I am close to Lake Erie and west of the Allegheny and Adirondack ranges. So we get moisture off of Lake Erie, plus mountain runoff drainage from streams and rivers that empty into the lake. On the down side, that gives us a LOT of "lake effect" snow in winter. We have been getting that snow for 4 days now since temps went down again after an early warm spell in the 60s and 70s.

When I visited relatives in Phoenix, I could not get used to the lack of greenery and flowers. The air was good for my asthma and allergies, and they wanted me to move there, but that was too much change for me.

[ymetca]

14. "Muerte Las Vegas"

like Blade Runner 2049

[DENVERPOPS]

15. Can you imagine

Las Vegas going dark, and everyone there learning to try to survive with out AC.......

And Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern Calif going with out their hundreds and hundreds of super green golf courses?????

[PatrickforB]

16. I can imagine many people having the proverbial 'come to Jesus' moments,

realizing how wrong we have all been in allowing big oil and big coal to seduce us for years into refusing to take greenhouse emissions seriously.

When there is no water, nothing else can make up for that.

I am so sorry for the 40 million who will face ruin when these lakes can no longer supply their water, and even more sorry for the rest of us who will have to bear with massive inflows of refugees. This is very bad.

[newdayneeded]

22. I agree.

We are possibly staring at relocations in a decade.

[Aussie105]

18. There are plenty of sites around the world

where huge and sophisticated cultures flourished, only to disappear and leave nothing but the ruins of their buildings.

They all have one thing in common. The climate shifted, and the needs of the people could not be met.

Las Vegas . . . living on borrowed time?

[calimary]

26. I'd guess yes.

Las Vegas is unsustainable.

[wnylib]

28. Including the American Southwest.

The Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins at the 4 corners (Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico) are testimony to people who left that area in the early 1490 due to long term drought. They were the ancestors of people in Pueblo communities today.

[LT Barclay]

19. Damn, and summer hasn't even started. My wife and I know 3 families that have moved to AZ. When

each of them left I told them "I'll send you a case of water when the going gets tough". I guess its time to start checking shipping costs.

[dalton99a]

20. Getting worse and worse

[Samrob]

25. Seems like too many folks are moving to the DC area especially VA and MD.

Traffic is a bitch and pillbox townhouses and condo are being thrown up all over the place. Outrageous prices for the pre-fab paper thin housing being built for ground to roof within one or two months. It is really wearing heavily on our infrastructure too.

[moondust]

27. CA temp records set Tuesday & Wednesday.

California’s record-dry start to the year is converging with record-high temperatures as an early spring heat wave settles over large swaths of the state.
~
Multiple temperature records were shattered Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, including some that were nearly a century old.
~
In Santa Rosa, a sweltering 89-degree high Tuesday broke the previous record temperature for the date, 86 degrees, set in 1926. In Camarillo, the temperature hit 90 degrees and broke an 88-degree record last seen in 2008 and 1926.
~
Other temperature records set Tuesday include 89 degrees in Oxnard; 88 degrees in Red Bluff; 86 degrees in Santa Maria and King City; 85 degrees in Redwood City, downtown Oakland, Gilroy and Salinas; 84 degrees in Santa Barbara, Paso Robles and San Jose; 83 degrees in Stockton; and 82 degrees at San Francisco Airport, officials said.
~
Heat wave shatters records across California, spells trouble for drought-dried state

[LakeArenal]

31. I remember Sam Kinison regarding the desert...

https://m.