Lake Mead water levels have dropped ninety feet since the Drought in the West started about ten years ago and the SNWA (Southern Nevada Water Authority) estimates it will drop another thirty feet by 2015. Assuming that happens, Federal restrictions will apply and water will be rationed to Arizona and New Mexico. They do not say what will happen in California but one thing they will not be doing is drinking water. (SNWA: Winter water yield falls short)
Lake Mead is, in large part, the water reservoir for California and other states. It's essentially the same thing as referring to the Colorado River since Lake Mead filled when the Colorado River was dammed and the river's headwaters aren't far away. Given the rate of consumption and the lack of seasonal snowmelt to replenish it, how long Lake Mead remains a lake remains to be seen.
The answer to California's water problems doesn't come from Lake Mead, it's just a buffer that is preventing those problems from being a catastrophic emergency right now. Should the drought continue much longer, the water will be drained off and then you will have a problem you just don't want to see. I have no forecast for how long that will take as I'm not a fortune teller but the level of the water in Lake Mead is not Fox News, it's science. A great deal of the water is already gone.
Today's solution is quite extreme as what they may consider is running a pipeline from the Ogallala Aquifer to supply the southwest in addition to the midwest states that are drawing from it now. The Aquifer is one of the largest in the world and it's underneath at least three or four midwest states. (WIKI: Ogallala Aquifer)
Other than the outrageous arrogance of this solution, there's another problem in that the Aquifer is down by about ten percent from its levels in the fifties and the rate of consumption has increased over recent years, apparently due large to coal, oil, and gas extraction, many of which processes take a great deal of water. Given the increases in oil extraction in the South Dakota area, those demands will very likely increase. It appears, at current levels, that it would take some centuries to drain the Aquifer but California can shorten that process enormously.
Tapping into the Ogallala Aquifer doesn't solve anything but it's just the sort of Washingtonian boondoggle that they enjoy in situations like this. There is probably no other group of people on the planet more capable of spending vast amounts of money on things that just don't fuckin' work. My favorite whipping example is the F-35 fighter as they've spent countless billions on that piece of crap already and guess what ... it still doesn't fuckin' work. (This is not exaggeration. There are many problems with the aircraft and the Defense Department admits them.) The F-35 is the perfect example of the U.S. in the New Age: there is no need, no application, and no demand.
Rather than writing science-fiction solutions, the technology for desalination plants has existed for decades, it's effective, and California needs it right now. But, sure, let's build some more fighters. That makes sense, doesn't it.
Lake Mead is, in large part, the water reservoir for California and other states. It's essentially the same thing as referring to the Colorado River since Lake Mead filled when the Colorado River was dammed and the river's headwaters aren't far away. Given the rate of consumption and the lack of seasonal snowmelt to replenish it, how long Lake Mead remains a lake remains to be seen.
The answer to California's water problems doesn't come from Lake Mead, it's just a buffer that is preventing those problems from being a catastrophic emergency right now. Should the drought continue much longer, the water will be drained off and then you will have a problem you just don't want to see. I have no forecast for how long that will take as I'm not a fortune teller but the level of the water in Lake Mead is not Fox News, it's science. A great deal of the water is already gone.
Today's solution is quite extreme as what they may consider is running a pipeline from the Ogallala Aquifer to supply the southwest in addition to the midwest states that are drawing from it now. The Aquifer is one of the largest in the world and it's underneath at least three or four midwest states. (WIKI: Ogallala Aquifer)
Other than the outrageous arrogance of this solution, there's another problem in that the Aquifer is down by about ten percent from its levels in the fifties and the rate of consumption has increased over recent years, apparently due large to coal, oil, and gas extraction, many of which processes take a great deal of water. Given the increases in oil extraction in the South Dakota area, those demands will very likely increase. It appears, at current levels, that it would take some centuries to drain the Aquifer but California can shorten that process enormously.
Tapping into the Ogallala Aquifer doesn't solve anything but it's just the sort of Washingtonian boondoggle that they enjoy in situations like this. There is probably no other group of people on the planet more capable of spending vast amounts of money on things that just don't fuckin' work. My favorite whipping example is the F-35 fighter as they've spent countless billions on that piece of crap already and guess what ... it still doesn't fuckin' work. (This is not exaggeration. There are many problems with the aircraft and the Defense Department admits them.) The F-35 is the perfect example of the U.S. in the New Age: there is no need, no application, and no demand.
Rather than writing science-fiction solutions, the technology for desalination plants has existed for decades, it's effective, and California needs it right now. But, sure, let's build some more fighters. That makes sense, doesn't it.
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