Colorado River Drought Forces a Painful Reckoning for States

From a NY Times Article

Faced with the shortage, federal authorities this year will for the first time decrease the amount of water that flows into Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, from Lake Powell 180 miles upstream. That will reduce even more the level of Lake Mead, a crucial source of water for cities from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and for millions of acres of farmland.

Reclamation officials say there is a 50-50 chance that by 2015, Lake Mead’s water will be rationed to states downstream. That, too, has never happened before.

So it would seem that major cities like Phoenix LA Las Vegas and other's are about to see their expiation come to a crashing halt.
in this story they go on to explain how the 20th century was one of the three wettest of the last 13 centuries... an anomaly that lead many city planners and water usage engineers to make some very serious mistakes in the amounts of water available.

“If Lake Mead goes below elevation 1,000” — 1,000 feet above sea level — “we lose any capacity to pump water to serve the municipal needs of seven in 10 people in the state of Nevada,” said John Entsminger, the senior deputy general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Right now they are drilling an $817 million emergency tunnel under Lake Mead in hopes to provide more water but the big fear is that one of the two existing tunnels that supply water now... will run dry before this third tunnel is completed.

So the new question they didn't raise... was how soon will the western states see water prices turn higher than the cost of a gallon of gasoline? when do they get to the point when lush green lawns in LA become untenable? Or all those super cool fountains in LV.

What happens when lake Powell and Mead become to shallow for boaters and the water coolers in public schools become cost prohibitive?

it's not a question of if... but of when?

BTW the title is a bit deceptive... you see it's not really a Drought... but a return to the normally dry conditions here in the western half of the country

It's possible we're seeing a return to the same conditions that saw an end to the Anasazi culture in the southwest. If that's the case, the big cities and the desert agriculture are going to take a massive hit/become insupportable.

Or we could just tell California who takes most of the water to get there own? We have had winter water rationing for years in vegas.

ketsuko
It's possible we're seeing a return to the same conditions that saw an end to the Anasazi culture in the southwest. If that's the case, the big cities and the desert agriculture are going to take a massive hit/become insupportable.

I think it's more than possible the Anasazi made the same mistakes the Las Vegas city planers made... assuming this had this magical and totally exploitable resource...

You can almost see in your head the first Anasazi walking into the area.
"Oh look, isn't this place pretty...Why we'll have no trouble growing our crops here!"

the Anasazi became a study in what happens to a society that grows beyond it's means wars, famine, and not so gradual extinction... Do you think there still be an Las Vegas when only three in ten people get water when they turn on the taps?

I wonder what affect this would have on the housing market in Vegas. Houses there already sell for up to 50% under value, so I wonder if one could use this as a way to get a house for even cheaper...

My little bro lives in Vegas and is starting to save up for a house. Might have to tell him it's time to move or time to build water tanks with the money he saves on his house

reply to post by HardCorps


Well the stupidity has always stunned me! Moving so many people to a desert and then on top of that wasting and wasting...they could have made wondrous cactus gardens and sculptures that fit the environment but NO! It had the be water!

turboneon
Or we could just tell California who takes most of the water to get there own? We have had winter water rationing for years in vegas.

I live over in Colorado and for like the past two decades my dad and his buddies have been predicting a water war in our part of the country...

I can kind of see that happening... I mean we saw the opening shots when TX sued NM over water inflows then NM sued us for a dwindling Rio Grande... now this with the Colorado and it's not a new story to those of us who live here... Yup were still in the let the lawyers battle it out stage... but it wouldn't take much before a mob, desperate for water starts building there own damns or inversely blowing them up

California will be just fine.

Desalination plants can provide water, and once the scarcity increases water prices, you will see more plants being built to accommodate.

Trust me, the millions of Californians will do ANYTHING necessary to avoid moving back in time to the bible belt.

www.fastcompany.com...


the flyover western states won't fare as well as California.. considering they don't have a thousand miles of coastline.

reply to post by HardCorps


wow your telling me that a state full of stoners can't fix that problem? Every stoner is like micgiver (sorry I don't know the correct spelling). They should be able to jimmy-rig some thing to fix the problem hahaha

All jokes aside though, that is horrible news, there is such a huge population of people that rely on this water source. that are soon going to be with out. could this be because of Haarp like technologies? Maybe this was planned? I think the us is due for another natural disaster (thats a joke). Plus it affects the west coast, where to my knowledge, we have not had a massive natural disaster in along time.

These are only speculations based the theory that some natural disasters are man made.

Don't worry, none of China's rivers reach the coast anymore either. Its a good thing because all of that contaminated water doesn't end up in the ocean.

No doubt the Pentagon will have a plan to liberate Canada of its proliferation of WMDs when the time comes so water wont be a problem.

reply to post by HanzHenry


You're kidding right? You are talking about a state that shut down it's more productive ag region because an invasive 2" minnow "might" have been getting caught in the pumps.

Do you really think the greenies would let you build desalination plants and endanger the purple spotted coastal kelplets or the mangy shelled kelplet crabs that depend on it for sustenance or the yellow-bellied crab suckers that need them for survival or the ... all the way up to the magnificent great white shark who doesn't actually eat any of these make believe things but surely will experience a huge population crash if you damage their sensitive environment by sucking out large amounts of seawater!

reply to post by HardCorps


Can't they just use take some more of the Lake Michigan-correction-Great Lakes frackwater? Divert the toxic waste into the river, instead of injecting all of the trademarked proprietary super secret squirrel mixture, under the oil and gas pockets, where God forbid, the water is kept separate from all the aquifers... Better to have some water left, above ground, even if it's toxic. It'll disperse, like mixing a really big drink.

What is more important? Regional water tables, or loosing God-only-knows how many millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere, for quick profit at the pumps and for the collection plate at The Church of the Carbon Credit?

I would like to know how Utah's NWO SurveillanceSenter will meet it's insane cooling requirements, if the river is low? This sounds serious.

Oh, wait, they probably use Perrier™, or perhaps Evian™. Nothing but the best.

Maybe they should use the run off from the melting poles...?

It is -12 F here, in the midwest. It has to be warm someplace....those darn Nazi's.

Serious questions. S n F

ETA: Just now I tried to 'flag' this, but it removed a flag, instead. I suspect that I may have just 'unflagged' the thread, and no action restores the flag. Someone please add a flag....

# 108

ketsuko
reply to post by HanzHenry

 

You're kidding right? You are talking about a state that shut down it's more productive ag region because an invasive 2" minnow "might" have been getting caught in the pumps.

Do you really think the greenies would let you build desalination plants

there are others with approved plans. The Electricity costs are almost viable. Although India and Australia both have innovative solar powered plants in the works.

take a look at San Diego. Being built NOW.

reply to post by Lostmymarbles


Lots of beach houses going cheap around the world too but hey - nothing has anything to do with climate change.

reply to post by HanzHenry


Spoken like someone that has no clue how much desalination plants will affect ones water bills.......

Char-Lee
reply to post by HardCorps

 

Well the stupidity has always stunned me! Moving so many people to a desert and then on top of that wasting and wasting...they could have made wondrous cactus gardens and sculptures that fit the environment but NO! It had the be water!

Here is a fun fact: For every person living, visiting or working in Vegas the amount of water used equals 300 gallons per person. This is in part due to the evaporation of freshwater from the many fountains, water features and swimming pool.

Then again what do I know. My Uncle was the Deputy Director at the California Department of Water Resources.... Don't even get me started on the water issues facing Southern California and Las Vegas, I know far more than I am supposed to.

HardCorps

turboneon
Or we could just tell California who takes most of the water to get there own? We have had winter water rationing for years in vegas.

I live over in Colorado and for like the past two decades my dad and his buddies have been predicting a water war in our part of the country...

I can kind of see that happening... I mean we saw the opening shots when TX sued NM over water inflows then NM sued us for a dwindling Rio Grande... now this with the Colorado and it's not a new story to those of us who live here... Yup were still in the let the lawyers battle it out stage... but it wouldn't take much before a mob, desperate for water starts building there own damns or inversely blowing them up

edit on 6-1-2014 by HardCorps because: (no reason given)

Yea i lived in mountains up there and we were lucky to have good well. Colorado needs all the water it has and people are quite honestly getting fed up with their water being controlled. Especially when the other states want more and act as if it belongs to them.

Vegas, Arizona towns that are built in places they knew they could not sustain themselves i DO not feel sorry for. Like other places throughout history they will become ghost towns, dust bowls. Why should places that have water be forced to give it to people who waste it.

Mark my words water will be worth more than gold and silver. As in our past, wars will be fought again to possess it. Already in our world countries kill people in other lands by denying the water. You don't hear much about it, it is just another one of those terrible things we allow to happen. But hey it's their water right.

What would happen if Colorado decided to damn up the rivers and keep the water....

The Bot