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Hoover Dam reservoir reaches record-low water levels
By Rachael Rettner

First Published 2 hours ago

The Western U.S. continues to suffer from a severe drought.

Water levels in Lake Mead, the vital reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam, reached a new record low this week as the Western U.S. continues to suffer from a severe drought, according to news reports.

On Wednesday (June 9), the reservoir's levels dropped to 1,071.56 feet (326 meters) above sea level — slightly lower than the previous record low of 1,074.6 feet (327 meters) set in 2016, according to Reuters. Overall, the reservoir has fallen 140 feet (43 m) in the past 21 years, Reuters reported.

Engineers created Lake Mead in the 1930s by building the Hoover Dam in the Colorado River at the Arizona-Nevada border. It is the largest reservoir in the United States, containing some 9 trillion gallons (34 trillion liters) of water, which gets allocated to about 25 million people living in the Southwest, including those in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas, Reuters reported.

The Southwestern U.S. has been in a nearly continuous drought for the past two decades, with rainfall and snowfall too low to allow the region to fully recover from the drought, according to CNN.

"Climate change is clearly playing a role," in the prolonged drought, Brandon Miller, a meteorologist for CNN, told the news outlet. "The warmer temperatures are driving that vicious cycle [of drought] and making it harder for normal or even above-average rainfall years to make a dent," Miller said. "When one or two below-average rainfall/snowfall years occur, as we have just seen, the results are disastrous."

The low levels in Lake Mead will likely require states that depend on the reservoir to implement water-saving measures. In August, U.S. officials will determine whether to declare a "Level 1 Shortage Condition" for Lake Mead for 2022, which would trigger cuts in water supply for the region, CNN reported.

For example, Arizona may have its water supply cut by 320,000 acre-feet, which would be about a year's supply for 1 million people, according to Retuers.

"While we may have less water coming to Arizona from the Colorado River in 2022, Arizona's water managers and suppliers have been taking measures to prepare and will continue to work to ensure the river remains stable for generations to come," Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, told CNN.

https://www.livescience.com/amp/hoover-dam-lake-mead-reservoir-record-low.html

It's time to update our 100+ year old water systems across the country. We should look at a National water grid and water pipelines to resolve these western drought issues once and for all.

And were is this water you are going to pump West coming from ?

I'll bet all those golf courses in Vegas, Scottsdale and Phoenix still have lush fairways and thick greens. Before telling people to shower less, they need to shut down every golf course in the southwest. Grass wasn't meant to grow in a desert, and the amount of water needed to maintain those greens and fairways is unreal.

Bingo.

A golf course requires about a million gallons of water a day. Most use recycled water if available.

Back in 1980, I flew out to visit a good friend who had just moved to Tempe, AZ. It was holiday time, and Byron had managed to shoehorn me into a Mesa Symph holiday concert. Rehearsals were on campus at ASU's Music Dept. When we left the rehearsal at 10PM, the entire campus was visibly transformed. From the building to the parking lot and everywhere else, there was a sheet of water extending as far as the eye could see. In short, the entire campus looked like a lake with sidewalks criss-crossing the surface. One of the most surreal sights I've ever witnessed.

I asked By about this. He said: "Yeah... 3 times each week, they flood the campus green space at night. The water soaks in before sunup. They do it at night, because the stuff would just exaporate during the day. It's how they keep ASU's campus looking like campuses back east. Stupid and wasteful- Kentucky Bluegrass was never meant to be grown next to a cactus."

Interbasin transfer of water rights have been resolved for many years and are well regulated. You can't just start piping water to California without impacting other areas.

I don't want the people of California to go thirsty. The first step is for them to impose strict restrictions on water usage. A good start for them would be to ban filling swimming pools, outlaw grass watering, car washes, etc before enacting stricter measure including rolling water outages for a few days at a time. Nothing says you have to flush toilets after every use.

j/c

It cracks me up to see comments about where is the water coming from? or shouldn't they use less... BUT if any of the same posters were the people dealing with the shortage I wonder if they would take less showers, not water lawns, not fill pools, or not flush after using the toilet... smh

All of this ME, ME, ME is a bunch of crap crap crap.

If we can move gas and oil via pipeline, we can move water the same way. I'm sure there are resources available that could be pushed into a "grid" at almost every water department in the country. And if we are talking raw untreated fresh water, then it could come from any number of sources. The idea being to insure every american has access to clean water for their daily needs. A lofty goal but not impossible.

IF we can bring in food from all over the world, we can bring in water too. If we are going to invest in infrastructure, then resolving water shortages and addressing the lack of clean water in certain areas should be high on the list of sensible spending. jmho

But without oil how can you sustain life?!

No, wait, that's water. Never mind.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article...spute-lake-mead

Here's an interesting article from 2018 about diverting water to golf courses from rivers flowing into Lake Meade. No wonder it's at an all time low if this has been going on for years. We don't need a pipeline, we just need to quit foolishly wasting billions of gallons of water so people can golf and have green lawns in the desert

Read up on water rights and the environmental impact of transferring water from one region to another before you guys keep spouting off.

California has a nice big ocean. Desalinization is their solution. Expensive no doubt, that is the price you pay for unchecked urban sprawl and wasteful ways.

.

From the east coast after they get flooded by hurricanes.

Farms too. In Colorado, farms account for 89% of water usage.

Massive drought out West.

I've been investing in water here and there.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/11/climate/california-western-drought-map.html

The western slope of Colorado is screwed, they have been under exceptional drought for years. There is an excessive heat warning for Grand Junction next week,.

30 year meteorologists are saying, this is the first time I’ve seen this, no bueno.

Ogalolla aquifer levels should be our most pressing concern. We need nuclear fusion before we can aggressively pursue desalination. We need to invest big in green energy until then.

The rest of the world has been doing this for decades, we are behind the times.

None of this really matters in the long run. By 2100 or so, the oceans will have boiled off more freshwater than we can use, I just hope there are some humans left to drink it.

I know what you mean in general but just for reference the average person uses 80-100 gallons of water per day. The average car only uses about 700 gallons a year. And there are not nearly the amount of cars as there are people.

So it would have to be a huge pipeline.

It would have to be many,and it isn't going to happen.

The entire west has been short on water supply forever. Western states aren't eager to give up any more water then they already are to California glut. It's not their fault that California has given little thought to the problem until it has become a problem.

Maybe take steps to mitigate the problem before expecting other states to help continue to feed the problem.

I get the gist of what you’re saying but… Alabama and Mississippi should follow suite. They freeload millions of dollars from richer states to help feed their impoverished citizens… just saying.
It’s called The United States for a reason. We’re supposed to look after each other.

Well that's shocking to about .5 percent of the population.

And I understand what you are saying, and don't disagree for the most part.

We do look out for each other, but when you start talking about draining water from one watershed to fill another, forget talking about global warming as an environmental impact. That is nothing compared to what this could do in a hurry.

No doubt saying to drain a Great Lake is extreme and the impact that would have doesn't need to be explained. You live in Oregon. They have salmon runs up there don't they.

Would reducing the water volume by 10% out of rivers to pump to California impact the salmons ability to breed? You bet it would.

This isn't about helping out Mississippi or helping California with earth quake aid. This is about messing with mother nature.

Dry places are supposed to be dry. Wet places are supposed to be wet.

The Colorado river is a big river. If the desert areas are sucking it dry, it's obvious we are building in places we shouldn't.

So basically you want California to handle its own issues. Well maybe they should set prices for tap water so high that the poor and low income are forced to relocate to states like Tennessee. Then the affluent Californians would have all the water they need. And property prices could soar again. Oh, and you could learn spanish as the new FIRST language of Tennessee.

How about maybe those dumb asses shouldn't have built a City in the middle of no where, which depends on water which may not be aVAILABLE IN lV, AND MAYBE THOSE BUTTholes in CA should not be depending on water from other parts of the country to survive.

Well Alabama and Mississippi shouldn’t have done such a poor job funding and providing public K-12 education. Now they have an unskilled, untrained, uneducated populace that can’t provide for themselves. Cut them off!!! It’s their own fault!!

See how absurd it all sounds?
No. We should fight for better systems in those states to raise their people out of poverty. Much as we should do what we can to bring about systems to make sure our fellow countrymen have adequate water supplies. And yes, this does mean dropping day to day usage for everyone. From golf courses to grassy front lawns. But it also includes infrastructure such as desalination plants and such.

That does not sound absurd at all. IF you notice the capital IF they screwed that up. ( i am not saying they did or didn't as I have no idea.)

Honest question bud. Do you think it's a bright idea to build cities in an area where they can not supply enough water to support the population?

No not really. But revisionist history won’t move us forward. Personally I think Vegas is an environmental travesty. If it disappeared this instant I’d not shed a tear. But I’m not going to advocate for it to be bulldozed. What I will say is lawns should be outlawed and not another golf course should be built. The fountains should be drained. Etc.

Are you advocating for the citizens of Southern California, Arizona, Nevada to be relocated?
I’m just not sure of your intentions.

Me, every male in the world should have a vasectomy at 13. We could crush the world population for a couple decades and things like water shortages would be less an issue… Now is that feasible? No… Well at least while I’m not king of the world.

I mentioned desalinization in my first post as a big part of the solution. I have no problem with federal support in building some of them.

Georgia has the same problem here in the east, especially Atlanta.. Their main water supply is the Chattahoochee river. Not the biggest river by any means. They have been in water wars with Alabama and Florida for a few decades. They have lost every battle in court because they are restricted in the amount of water they can use or it impacts cities and towns downstream, as well as the ecosystem in Apalachicola bay where the oyster beds in the bay need the influx of fresh water to provide the brackish water necessary for many forms of marine life to survive.

Again, you can't just dam up rivers willy nilly or start pumping water across country from lakes.

I know you get that. Even if we disagree on some points, at least you use a good portion of your brain unlike some people and will carry on a reasonable conversation.

I appreciate that.

Just going to leave this here. . .

Desalination is a good solution for the future but it doesn’t help the problem now. Israel gets the majority of its water via desalination and has been for years. I don’t know how adding 30 million more people to the equation changes things other than making it much more difficult.

No doubt it couldn't be the only measure, and it would take measures by all the SW states.

All I am saying is the SW is a dry, arid place. Reclamation of lands is great, but it can't outpace water supplies. It's evident it is at or near that point. Maybe past.

It's a non issue, if it all dries up we move to Alberta. Seriously Climate cult worshipers are dummies.

On a lighter note. I wish Monty Python were around to deal with this problem and explain it to me in a way that makes sense.

I recently moved from Southern California. I can tell you that the way they handle their water situation is absurd. Northern California pumps a crazy amount of water down to Southern California, and where there is a lot of wasteful practices going on. Very few people have water-saving landscaping, instead opting for lots of grass that they struggle to keep green. California also does a ton in the way of manufacturing and agriculture (which needs water), so that needs to be factored in as well.

CA, especially Southern CA, needs to get its own 'ish together on water. From what I've seen, there needs to be a reckoning with many people in how they approach their water consumption.

The one thing I've noticed more than anything else is that for decades California and the SW in general has had no real problem supplying themselves with water.

The last decade or so it has become a huge problem. Yet all it seems people wish to discuss is the problem and not how and why it became a problem. That's why these problems will get worse and it won't just be the SW.

Our society has always been reactive rather than proactive. If that doesn't change quickly we're going to have one helluva a lot more things to react to.

There are multiple problems. Some we can control, some we can't.

Over population is one that we can. Urban sprawl is one that we can. Wasteful ways is one that we can.

As a country we have already built a large dam to create a massive water reservoir in the SW. One of the worlds largest. There are a few others as well. Those haven't seemed to quench the thirst, so maybe we have reached our limits on this one. At least with existing fresh water supplies.

They quenched the thirst for decades and the U.S. has been at zero population growth for a long time now. Yet it isn't working now. Something has changed to create this situation.

According to many, people are fleeing California in droves. So the problem should be getting better, not worse, right?

The problem actually revolves around a lack of rain and lack of winter snowfall that provides the run off needed to keep water levels up. Far less than before.

I clearly said there are things we can control and some we can't, so unless you know of some rain dance you can perform it's probably best to stick with the possible.