Ever Shrinking Lake Mead

[masraum]

Nice, giant truck out in the mud with what looks like giant wheels and low-pro street tires. I'm guessing the driver didn't know that the ground was going to be soft mud at some point.

[dlockhart]

Originally Posted by masraum

Nice, giant truck out in the mud with what looks like giant wheels and low-pro street tires. I'm guessing the driver didn't know that the ground was going to be soft mud at some point.

The water recedes and in the desert air the ground crusts over quite quickly and people over estimate the surface, even those with experience like my buddy here.

[daepp]

Not too many people; too little infrastructure expansion.

California's water system was built for 20 million people; the state now has 40 million. No new reservoirs since Diamond Valley (planned in the ate 50's; completed in the 90's).

Supreme Court decision a decade or so ago also allowed for more AZ agriculture east of the Colorado river.

Ps: 50% of CA fresh water flows unused to the sea, ostensibly to protect a couple of endangered fish. But some (all) of the smelts are now known to be non-native to CA - current theory is they came in the ballast of bulk carrier ships from China, who come here (often) empty of cargo but full of water ballast, drawn in from Asian waters...

And so it goes...

[Por_sha911]

You can multiply the amount of storage area but if you live in a desert there is no way to fill it.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

You can multiply the amount of storage area but if you live in a desert there is no way to fill it.

Sure you can fill it.

You can fill it in wetter years, so you have it in the dry ones. Which, is what the state has been doing for a century.

And, you can fill it by diverting fresh water from the sea.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Looks like some power generating infrastructure.
Those generators are from the 1930's

https://www.breitbart.com/local/2022/07/19/video-firefighters-respond-to-possible-explosion-at-hoover-dam/

[island911]

Exploding transformer. ^

Possibly optimus prime

[daepp]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

Looks like some power generating infrastructure.
Those generators are from the 1930's

https://www.breitbart.com/local/2022/07/19/video-firefighters-respond-to-possible-explosion-at-hoover-dam/

Latest I read was it was a transformer fire - not that rare.

[Tobra]

I had a transformer on the pole behind my house blow up once.

Loud, and it caught the pole on fire.

I blame global warming, because it happened during the summertime

[island911]

Too many Teslas charging?

[HobieMarty]

That "explosion" at the dam looked pretty significant to me, must've been a huge transformer to cause that kind of smoke cloud and fire.
I've seen transformers on utility poles blow before but nothing like that.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[RNajarian]

Originally Posted by island911

Too many Teslas charging?

Not ENOUGH Teslas charging.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

That "explosion" at the dam looked pretty significant to me, must've been a huge transformer to cause that kind of smoke cloud and fire.
I've seen transformers on utility poles blow before but nothing like that.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Presumably, power plants have bigger transformers than your avg utility pole in a neighborhood (which can make an exiting boom, when they go).

[island911]

I thought that they had stopped generating electricity, to preserve the lake water level.

Looks like they are still moving water over the turbines.

Seems stupid, considering it is easier to import electricity from other States than it is to import water.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Originally Posted by island911

I thought that they had stopped generating electricity, to preserve the lake water level.

Looks like they are still moving water over the turbines.

Seems stupid, considering it is easier to import electricity from other States than it is to import water.

The water through the Hoover dam is destined for the farm fields of AZ & CA by virtue of their water rights.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

The water through the Hoover dam is destined for the farm fields of AZ & CA by virtue of their water rights.

"water rights" to a source that is heck and gone from point of use. That squiggle at the bottom of CAs border is nothing more than water theft.

Yes, CA grows a huge amount of produce but from I've seen their irrigation practices are wasteful. I've read somewhere that CA farms use enough water to submerge my home state under a foot of water every year.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

"water rights" to a source that is heck and gone from point of use. That squiggle at the bottom of CAs border is nothing more than water theft.

Yes, CA grows a huge amount of produce but from I've seen their irrigation practices are wasteful. I've read somewhere that CA farms use enough water to submerge my home state under a foot of water every year.

Can you rephrase that first paragraph? Maybe I’m just only use but I want to understand what you’re saying.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by daepp

Can you rephrase that first paragraph? Maybe I’m just only use but I want to understand what you’re saying.

Sure, I'll try harder. My understanding of water rights is that they are based on old treaties or other agreements. Those rights don't seem to be working now.

The CA border issue I mentioned deals with the southeastern portion of it's border. CA's borders are straight as an arrow until it reaches the Mojave Valley. Then it takes the course of the Colorado as it's border. If I'm correct , and I may not be the population of California when it became a state was approx 93,000, but they had no water. So, they needed the Colorado River and they lobbied to make it the border.

Now this is just a WAG but could it be that Southern Cali is the major draw on Lake Mead?

We must have other farmland that can produce much of what is needed without depriving others of water.

But what do I know.

[rusnak]

^ Your understanding of agriculture in California is really abysmal. Since groundwater ultimately comes from precipitation, you have to look at water use over a decade or more because water allocations depend from year to year on snowpack and aquifer levels.

When looked at over a span of a few decades, you can gain an understanding of how California water is used. Most of it gets released out into the ocean and is wasted by Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

We went over a thread like this around 5 or 6 years ago.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by rusnak

^ Your understanding of agriculture in California is really abysmal. Since groundwater ultimately comes from precipitation, you have to look at water use over a decade or more because water allocations depend from year to year on snowpack and aquifer levels.

When looked at over a span of a few decades, you can gain an understanding of how California water is used. Most of it gets released out into the ocean and is wasted by Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

We went over a thread like this around 5 or 6 years ago.

I readily admit that. It still sounds like Cali is wasting water. If drought is retarding replenishment of Lake Mead but usage has not been curtailed who is responsible?