Lake Mead in Need
A new paper in Water Resources Research suggests that Lake Mead, Nevada, may be dry by the year 2021. Authors Tim Barnett and David Pierce (both of Scripps) base this austere prediction on two things: (1) increasing projected rates of water use in the American southwest, as well as (2) climate change projections which suggest the region will receive less precipitation. They also posit a 50% chance that the lake level will drop too low to allow hydroelectric power generation by 2017. That's only 9 years from now!It would seem that it's time for some conservation measures. When I lived out in California, I was struck by a major design flaw in the aqueducts which transport water from reservoirs in the Sierras and the Colorado River system to the centers of population: they're uncovered! These big long uncovered troughs full of water encourage the active evaporation of much of the liquid they carry. I'd imagine that just putting some tarps over the top of them would make a huge difference in conserving water that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. Maybe this has already happened: I left California in 1998, and I recall some post-September-11 (2001) talk about how the aqueducts were susceptible to being poisoned, so maybe they've already been covered up in the name of homeland security.
Check out the picture of the lake in October of last year (by Ken Dewey of the University of Nebraska). A glaring white "bathtub ring" shows how much the lake level has dropped due to the recent string of drought years the west has experienced. In early July, at the end of our Grand Canyon rafting trip, my Dad and brothers and I will float into the upper reaches of Lake Mead, and we'll likely see something like this in person. I'll be sure to post a blog reaction to that when I see it.
Reference:
Barnett, T. P., and D. W. Pierce (2008), "When Will Lake Mead go Dry?," Water Resour. Res., doi:10.1029/2007WR006704, in press.
For more details on the new study, see the press release on Eurekalert.
Labels: global warming, grand canyon, water resources
3 Comments:
I don't know about the entire California aqueduct system, but I've driven past parts of it that are still very much uncovered and evaporateable (and vulnerable to terrorism, I guess, if those post-9-11 worriers are still that paranoid.)
I visited Lake Mead four years ago on a field trip, and (after we were done arguing over what causes the bathtub ring), the group went for a swim at a beach we found.
Big mistake. Because of the extremely low water levels, the lake was separated from the beach part of the shore by a big stretch of knee-deep mud underlain by sharp rocks. Not at all fun.
I'm of the opinion that the entire Southwest needs to work on their water consumption. I saw far too many golf courses and grassy lawns and not enough conservation. (Not to mention that huge turf field in the University of Phoenix Stadium that they spent the whole Superbowl shredding. You'd think they could spring for some Fieldturf, with all the money the NFL is raking in.)
Additionally, I know that portions of the Coachella Canal (aggricultural water) are unlined for large stretches consisting of just a clay bottom. This is of course in addition to not being covered. The canal stretchs 122 miles from the river to La Quinta before terminating into what is essenitlaly an evaporation pond.
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