Lake Mead drops to lowest level in history.
This may become a problem for Zorgon if the Water runs out in Las Vegas ! ???
The nation's largest reservoir has broken a record, declining to the lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s.
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/1fb69ba7b1d5a0616a5c2522ac75d8a6abbace5f/c=82-0-3668-2696&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2015/08/27/PalmSprings/PalmSprings/635762703882987290-las-vegas-water-use12.jpg)
Lake Mead reached the all-time low Wednesday night, slipping below a previous record set in June 2015.
The downward march of the reservoir near Las Vegas reflects enormous strains on the over-allocated Colorado River. Its flows have decreased during 16 years of drought, and climate change is adding to the stresses on the river.
As the levels of Lake Mead continue to fall, the odds are increasing for the federal government to declare a shortage in 2018, a step that would trigger cutbacks in the amounts flowing from the reservoir to Arizona and Nevada. With that threshold looming, political pressures are building for California, Arizona and Nevada to reach an agreement to share in the cutbacks to avert an even more severe shortage.
USA TODAY
In Colorado River deal, Ariz., Nev. could lose more water
"This problem is not going away and it is likely to get worse, perhaps far worse, as climate change unfolds," said Brad Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. "Unprecedented high temperatures in the basin are causing the flow of the river to decline. The good news is that we have time and the smarts to manage this, if all the states work together."
He said that will require "making intelligent but difficult changes to how we have managed the river in the past."
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/0f5781d7f90c5cd15229ddad38309b11930a39ab/c=74-8-1824-1324&r=x393&c=520x390/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/07/15/1405432915001-mead071514-002.jpg)
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/3dd4effeed55857e94f0f7e42522d4c373ee0616/c=111-0-1923-1361&r=x393&c=520x390/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/07/15/1405432915004-mead071514-005.jpg)
A "bathtub ring" on Lake Mead in late 2014 shows how1 of 14
A boater drifts toward a boat ramp in an area that
Roger Dell relaxes in the water at Lake Mead?s Boulder
The ruins of the Hannig Ice Cream Parlor are shown
Dust blows at Lake Mead's Boulder Harbor, June 20,
A mineral stain, once covered by water, is visible as boaters pass Rock Island on July 14 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. North America's largest man-made reservoir dropped below 1,082 feet, the lowest it's been since the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s.
Boats are moored at a marina in Hemenway Harbor in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. A 14-year drought in the southwest and a dwindling supply of water from the Colorado River has forced the National Park Service to close or extend boat launch ramps, and move entire marinas to try to keep up with the receding water levels.
Boaters pass mineral-stained rock walls on the upstream side of the Hoover Dam in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The falling water level has left a white bathtub ring of mineral deposits as high as 130 feet.
Floyd Winters of Minnesota takes photos of a mineral-stained rock wall during a boat tour.
A white line of mineral deposits stain the rock wall near one of the Arizona Intake Towers at the Hoover Dam.
A boater zips past a stained rock wall near Hemenway Harbor.
Rocks stained by minerals tower above Horsepower Cove.
A pair of floating restrooms rest on the dirt at Boulder Harbor where the Lake Mead Marina was once located. The marina was moved because of low water levels.
Shrubs grow around a wrecked boat that was once covered by water near Boulder Beach.
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Water level continues to drop at Lake Mead
As of Thursday afternoon, the lake's level stood at an elevation of about 1,074.6 feet. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the reservoir and Hoover Dam, projects the level to decline a few feet more to an elevation of about 1,071 feet by the end of June, before the level begins to rise again with releases of water from Lake Powell.
Under the federal guidelines that govern reservoir operations, the Interior Department would declare a shortage if Lake Mead's level is projected to be below 1,075 feet as of the start of the following year. In its most recent projections, the Bureau of Reclamation calculated the odds of a shortage at 10% in 2017, while a higher likelihood — 59% — at the start of 2018.
But those estimates will likely change when the bureau releases a new study in August. Rose Davis, a public affairs officer for the Bureau of Reclamation, said if that study indicates the lake's level is going to be below the threshold as of Dec. 31, a shortage would be declared for 2017.
That would lead to significant cutbacks for Arizona and Nevada. California, which holds the most privileged rights to water from the Colorado River, would not face reductions until the reservoir hits a lower trigger point.
Representatives of California, Arizona and Nevada said last month that they hope to have a deal by the end of the year in which all three states accept cutbacks earlier than otherwise required in order to head off a more serious crisis.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has said she is optimistic about the talks, calling the over-allocation of the river a shared problem that must be solved. During a May 4 visit to Southern California, she that there has been "extraordinary collaboration" between the states in working toward a deal, and that the United States and Mexico have also been making progress in negotiations on a new accord to share water from the Colorado River.
While representatives of the three states have discussed the outlines of proposals to temporarily take less water from Lake Mead, they say considerable hurdles remain, including negotiations between water districts within each state.
A look back at Lake Mead
(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/usatoday/editorial/graphics/2016/05/052016-Lake-Mead-Level.jpg)
The legal framework that divvies up the Colorado River was established during wetter times, starting with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. That and subsequent agreements have handed out more water than what flows in the
river in an average year, leading to chronic overuse.
As population growth and heavy demand for water collide with hotter temperatures and reduced snowpack in the future, there will be an even greater mismatch between supply and demand, said Kelly Sanders, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in water and energy issues.
"The question becomes how to resolve this mismatch across states that all depend on the river to support their economic growth," Sanders said. She expects incentives and markets to help ease some of the strains on water supplies, "but it is going to be tricky to make the math work in the long term."
USA TODAY
Nestle fights feds over water rights
Government records show that the level of Lake Mead hasn't been this low since 1937, when the reservoir was being filled.
Scientists have estimated that rising temperatures and the resulting declines in runoff across the Colorado River Basin could reduce the river's flow 5% to 35% by the middle of the century.
"Human-caused climate warming will drive larger and larger flow reductions as long as emissions of greenhouse gases continue," said Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the University of Arizona's Institute of the Environment.
"The river is over-allocated even before climate change is factored in," Overpeck said in an email. He said he thinks the negotiations will probably "focus on how to reduce the over-allocation, but will eventually have to focus on sharing the pain as climate change continues to reduce the flows."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/05/19/lake-mead-declines-lowest-level-history/84628000/
Wow I thought it would have recovered some by now. Maybe they really are building under ground tunnels and storing water from Canada so many people rely on that water.
Quote from: astr0144 on May 20, 2016, 07:47:55 PM
This may become a problem for Zorgon if the Water runs out in Las Vegas ! ???
A few weeks ago I was at a small gem show in Boulder City (home of Hoover Dam) The head of the museum gave a speech at the local gem club.
She told us that about 90% of the water from Lake Mead goes to California who paid for the damn in the first place..
We have no water shortage yet There are reserves underground everywhere
QuoteDrought-stricken cities in Southern California will soon get some help courtesy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
Authority board members on Thursday approved plans to lease 150,000 acre-feet of water to California from the Las Vegas Valley's reserves in the coming year.
Pending approval from its board, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will pay the authority almost $44.4 million for the water, which equates to about a six-month supply for the Las Vegas Valley.
The authority can either keep the cash and let California keep the water, or repay some or all of the money in the coming years and get a proportional share of water in return.
"We'll have access to the water when we need it," said authority general manager John Entsminger.
In the meantime, the $44,375,000 from Southern California's largest municipal water supplier would be placed in the authority's rate-stabilization fund.
"We're not proposing any particular use for it now," Entsminger said.
The authority has roughly 1.5 million acre-feet of water banked in various locations, including Lake Mead, Arizona, California and in the groundwater aquifer underlying the Las Vegas Valley.
That's enough water to supply the community for more than seven years at current consumption levels, Entsminger said.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/water-environment/authority-approves-leasing-water-california
This is the first level of aquifers under Nevada These are the closest to the ground level. (Don't forget that the submarine base in Hawthorne uses the even deeper water passages :P
(http://cnrwa.com/i/map2.png)
We have had a lot of rain and cool weather here lately (still cool today my AC bill is loving it :P ) but to fill the lake it needs to have rain and snow in Colorado and higher Most of our rain enters the system BELOW the dam so doesn't fill the lake
See this small lake at the Belagio Hotel where the fountains are?
(http://xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/las_vegas/bellagio/fountain6.jpg)
(http://www.lasvegashotel.com/photo/lasvegas/Las-Vegas-Hotels-Bellagio-Lake.jpg)
This is a natural aquifer close to the surface. The Belagio and the Wynn use this water and do not draw any city water. It literally bubbles out of the ground. The Belagio also has a state of the art water recycling plant and recycles ALL the water they use in the hotel
QuoteThe fountains at Bellagio are fed using well water for which the Dunes already had a long-standing permit from the State of Nevada. The fountains do not use municipal water. It is my understanding that the water is not of suitable quality to go straight to the fountain and that Bellagio treats it first. The Bellagio Hotel and fountain uses much less water than the golf course did and produces substantially more economic return, as you pointed out in your presentation. Similarly, the Wynn Hotel, built on the site of the old Desert Inn, also used well water conserved by a redesign of the old golf course to meet the needs of their landscape and water feature.
(http://www.lovethesepics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Panorama-of-Bellagio-Fountains-and-The-Strip-Las-Vegas.jpg)
It may be a desert in Nevada :P But Las Vegas means "The Meadows" LOTS of water in this oasis :D
And my yard is GREEN this year :D
Its nice to see you make the occasional post again "Z"...
I think most folk on PRC the last few weeks have wondered if you were on a long or even permanent break from the forum or was concerned if you had been OK. It maybe the longest period that I can recall you being away..(although I do recall you took a couple of long breaks on other occasions) But I could understand that sometimes there are other priorities or one can just hit a stage when they need to break off long term.
Its interesting and good to read what you have described about the Las Vegas water situation.
I recall seeing some past TV programs about all the water that was being diverted from the Colorodo to various places in the Deserts surrounding areas.
But I am surprised some much actually goes to California.
I did not realise that they paid towards the creation of Hoover Dam. I thought it was maybe just general US Tax Payers.
QuoteA few weeks ago I was at a small gem show in Boulder City (home of Hoover Dam) The head of the museum gave a speech at the local gem club.
She told us that about 90% of the water from Lake Mead goes to California who paid for the damn in the first place..
We have no water shortage yet There are reserves underground everywhere
I recall the Hawthorne and underground water / base and I can now see that there seems to be some underground seepage areas scattered around. I even have found some that are around Nellis / Area 51 that I can across on a special map that listed underground springs.
QuoteThis is the first level of aquifers under Nevada These are the closest to the ground level. (Don't forget that the submarine base in Hawthorne uses the even deeper water passages :P
That is a surprise ! Vegas being Cool and wet in May !..
I used to Visit around that time in my past visits and usually it had been still very hot.
I will have to check out how the River flows from the Dam to Vegas and what the terrain is like...I have been to visit the Dam some years ago...so are you saying that most water flows in to the river between the Dam and Vegas and NOT so much from the areas where it comes from Colorado / Grand Canyon..
or is there a lot of areas where the water gets diverted from the Colorado before it fills the dam that is at the end of the main part of the Grand Canyon.
QuoteWe have had a lot of rain and cool weather here lately (still cool today my AC bill is loving it :P ) but to fill the lake it needs to have rain and snow in Colorado and higher Most of our rain enters the system BELOW the dam so doesn't fill the lake
I did not know that !...
I wonder if there are other sufficient other underground supplies that would continue to water Vegas if say the Colorado dried up that would likely continue to offer vegas water !
Is the Dam more for Hydro Electric as opposed to supplying Vegas with water ?
I wonder if the dam mainly supplies Vegas with Electric or does the Electric also supply elsewhere ?
QuoteThis is a natural aquifer close to the surface. The Belagio and the Wynn use this water and do not draw any city water. It literally bubbles out of the ground. The Belagio also has a state of the art water recycling plant and recycles ALL the water they use in the hotel