NASA shows Lake Mead shrinkage

[LVSteve]

As if the pictures of the bath ring were not enough, NASA put out a before and after set of pictures, 2000 and 2022. Check out the split picture in this news item.

New NASA satellite images illustrate Lake Mead shrinking water levels | KSNV

The city passed an ordinance just this week limiting the size of domestic pools to 600 sq ft in area. The home builders went nuts at the meeting, but the motion passed unanimously.

I expect the next round of water cuts will create even more howls. Whether the city/county will start putting the squeeze on home construction remains to be seen. I suspect they will leave it up to some federal agency to lower the boom. Either that or wait until the faucet only produces sand.

 

[johngalt]

That's really something. I suppose they still think they can loot the Great Lakes.

 

[LVSteve]

That's really something. I suppose they still think they can loot the Great Lakes.

There were people on the 'phone during the Rant section of the news on Fox5 saying pretty much exactly that. Idiots.

The Rant: July 21, 2022

More pictures. Look at the Overton arm, last year to this.

Satellite images from NASA show water loss at Lake Mead since 2000

 

[Benchrest1]

My brother-in-law lives in Michigan and is always telling me they are more than happy to sell us all the water we want. He said they have plenty.

 

[LVSteve]

My brother-in-law lives in Michigan and is always telling me they are more than happy to sell us all the water we want. He said they have plenty.

...and who is paying for the infrastructure to get it here?

 

[Tom S.]

...and who is paying for the infrastructure to get it here?

No infrastructure changes needed. Just take all the plastic containers floating in the ocean, bring them to Michigan, we will fill them up and truck / freight train them out to you.

Win-win!

Of course you will also get our zebra mussels, sea lampreys and possibly Asian carp too.

 

[CH4]

Yet they're still building countless, huge subdivisions in southern Nevada. Same goes for California and probably Arizona.

 

[tlawler]

Could divert the Mississippi to the Colorado. It has been proposed.

Sharing Mississippi River water with California would feed America

 

[Tom S.]

Could divert the Mississippi to the Colorado. It has been proposed.

Sharing Mississippi River water with California would feed America

With some of the flooding that has happened along the Mississippi, this could be a viable alternative.

 

[johngalt]

...and who is paying for the infrastructure to get it here?

They have never paid market value for the water, and refuse any notion that they should. Therefore the current situation...

 

[Jessie]

Well ya know, if you build a lake in the middle of a desert it's occasionally going to fill up, then dry up. That's nature and it shouldn't shock anyone.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

Sam Kinison had a solution for this problem. Send them uhauls to move because ... THEY ARE LIVING IN A DESERT!!

John

 

[Rolex28]

Isn't the bigger issue being that if the lake gets too low the Dam will have to stop producing power for the southwestern US?

 

[LVSteve]

Isn't the bigger issue being that if the lake gets too low the Dam will have to stop producing power for the southwestern US?

The Dead Pool scenario. Yes, the Vegas water folks have straw deep enough that Dead Pool isn't a problem for drinking water. As for power, surprisingly little of our power comes from the dam. Now, in California...

 

[WR Moore]

Maybe 10 or so years ago I read an article about the multi-state water compact that divvied up the output of the Colorado River. Then someone in the news media asked an intelligent question to one of the subject matter experts who testified. I don't recall exact figures, but the problem was that the compact divvied up significantly more water than the river sometimes flowed. Wet years, no problem. Dryer years, pulling down pool/lake levels, multiple dryer years..............

I was out in Kalifornistan back in 1988. There was some degree of water rationing. You weren't supposed to water your lawn or wash your car. However, driving to work on the I-5 early in the morning, I'd see water sprinklers refreshing the roadside vegetation. No idea where the water came from, but the optics were .....puzzling. One would think selection of less water dependent vegetation would have been the logical solution in the first place.

 

[LVSteve]

Maybe 10 or so years ago I read an article about the multi-state water compact that divvied up the output of the Colorado River. Then someone in the news media asked an intelligent question to one of the subject matter experts who testified. I don't recall exact figures, but the problem was that the compact divvied up significantly more water than the river sometimes flowed. Wet years, no problem. Dryer years, pulling down pool/lake levels, multiple dryer years..............

I was out in Kalifornistan back in 1988. There was some degree of water rationing. You weren't supposed to water your lawn or wash your car. However, driving to work on the I-5 early in the morning, I'd see water sprinklers refreshing the roadside vegetation. No idea where the water came from, but the optics were .....puzzling. One would think selection of less water dependent vegetation would have been the logical solution in the first place.

From memory, CA gets 4.6 million acre/ft, AZ gets 2.8 million acre/ft, and NV gets 300,000 acre feet. NV gets an order of magnitude less than the others.

Clark County has now banned "non-functional" grass in new developments (AKA grass landscaping) and many HOAs are now getting rid of same. It's been going on in my area slowly since I moved in six years ago. We are also encouraged to remove our "non-functional" grass, AKA the front lawns. This has caused the blood pressure of many of the retirees from CA and the Midwest who have been here 25-30 years to spike dangerously. They don't want to hear it.

 

[smoothshooter]

The state is still diverting tens of millions of gallons of mountain runoff freshwater daily out into the ocean to save a few members of an obscure minnow species ( Delta Smelt ) somewhere aren't they?

LOL!

 

[Rudi]

Too many people, not enough water. The sooner this sinks in the better.

 

[johngalt]

The state is still diverting tens of millions of gallons of mountain runoff freshwater daily out into the ocean to save a few members of an obscure minnow species ( Delta Smelt ) somewhere aren't they?

LOL!

There's some fascinating logic....

 

[johngalt]

Minnesota is an interesting state. As blue as it gets, but also decently pro-gun (but not perfect).

Last summer they issued a water advisory -- the usual admonishments against washing your car, watering your lawn, etc.

Yep, in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I guess they didn't want to feel left out?