Ever Shrinking Lake Mead

[HobieMarty]

Wow, I had no idea it had gotten so bad. Anyone from around that area? I've been watching videos about this over the past couple of weeks and I keep hearing about a dead pool situation being a very real possibility.
What's going on out there???

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[KNS]

Agriculture has already received some cuts in water allotment and Las Vegas and Phoenix are doing a lot to conserve but in the end I don't think it's going to be enough as long as Lake Powell and Lake Mead keep dropping.

Because both reservoirs are essentially V shaped, the lower the water level gets, the faster it goes as the volume becomes ever more reduced the closer it reaches dead pool.

[Otter74]

What's going on out there? The biggest drought in the west in something like 400 years. And too much water use.

[URY914]

Al Gore, paging Al Gore.....

[asphaltgambler]

Almonds are the problem from my understanding where it takes something like 50X the amount of water need to grow them VS any other nut or fruit.

[fintstone]

A lot of LA's wastewater is dumped into the ocean versus better cleaning/reuse. Time for treehuggers to do their part.

[red 928]

Originally Posted by Otter74

What's going on out there? The biggest drought in the west in something like 400 years. And too much water use.

They are simply letting more water out
than is going in
if they reduced the electricity generation,
they would have more water in the lake
but less $$$$ in their pockets

hydro generated electricity is basically free once
the infrastructure is built, so not much chance
of anyone ever deciding to use less of it

[Scott Douglas]

From what I understand they shut the generators off months ago so they haven't been generating power for a while.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Almonds are the problem from my understanding where it takes something like 50X the amount of water need to grow them VS any other nut or fruit.

I could live without almonds...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Almonds are the problem from my understanding where it takes something like 50X the amount of water need to grow them VS any other nut or fruit.

Originally Posted by cstreit

I could live without almonds...

I believe pretty much all almonds grown in Cali are "non pariel." My understanding is that they are more uniform in size and shape. I think they are also supposed to be sweeter. But they have NO flavor. If you've ever had Amaretto, you know what almonds are supposed to taste like. The only time that I've ever had almonds that tasted like almonds was if they came from Europe.

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

From what I understand they shut the generators off months ago so they haven't been generating power for a while.

Right, as the level of the water drops, the pressure drops and when the pressure/level gets too low, functionality/efficiency also drops.

[faverymi]

Too many humans. Simple

[red 928]

Currently, its level is approximately 1,050 feet and it is expected to fall below that soon. Despite that drop, Hoover Dam will still be able to produce hydropower, according Patti Aaron, public affairs officer for the Bureau of Reclamation’s lower Colorado region that oversees the dam’s operations.

“Lake Mead will decline to below 1,050 feet this week, but it will not affect our ability to produce hydropower. … Hoover (Dam) would no longer be able to produce power at 950 feet of elevation,” she said. “We do not anticipate that happening.”

the last hard record I found from a quick search
was from June 8th when hoover dam
produced 1,567 megawatts

that was 75% of max capacity and was limited by
the amount of water that was let through the dam
at lake Powell and by a federal mandate

Lake Mead is currently operating under a federally declared water shortage and its allocation of water for 2022 has been cut by 21,000 acre feet. The level is also expected to drop 30 feet in the next two years, falling to 1,035.09 feet of water.

remember there are five major dams on the Colorado river.
when anyone of them restricts flow, it bottle-necks all those
downstream if it

[red 928]

I knew about the five dams mentioned above
I was not aware that

there are 15 dams on the main stem if the Colorado river
and hundreds more on the tributaries

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Almonds are the problem from my understanding where it takes something like 50X the amount of water need to grow them VS any other nut or fruit.

This is what the people mismanaging the resources say.

Pretty sure none of the water from Lake Mead is used to water almond trees.

[SCadaddle]

Maybe not almonds but possibly pistachios? I think the only other major source of pistachios is Iran, and I don't imagine any U.S. outfits are importing Iranian pistachios.

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by Tobra

This is what the people mismanaging the resources say.

Pretty sure none of the water from Lake Mead is used to water almond trees.

Propaganda.....hmmmmm....interesting.............. .....

[GG Allin]

I know nothing about the weather out in the southwest but it looks like there is some rain out there today and the map looked similar yesterday. How many days like this would it take for a sizable increase in the water levels out there.

[rusnak]

Colorado river water is used by agriculture for mainly open land farming. Open land farming is row crops: grasses, leafy plants, grain, squash, etc. This would be to provide basic food ingredients for humans and livestock. For the most part almonds are grown along the San Joaquin River and Sacramento River, not the Colorado. I think the issue for Colorado River farmers will be less furrow irrigation.

[A930Rocket]

Wasn’t there’s something about fresh water they were releasing into the ocean to help prevent the decimation of some kind of smelt fish?

So the fish live, crops and humans suffer. 🙄

[KNS]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

I know nothing about the weather out in the southwest but it looks like there is some rain out there today and the map looked similar yesterday. How many days like this would it take for a sizable increase in the water levels out there.

It's not so much the rainfall but the snow pack in the Rockies, it's been down. In addition, the soils are so dry (all over the Southwest) that when it does rain or snow, it is quickly absorbed into the ground rather than the water making it's way down to the streams and eventually the Colorado River. Far less water is making its way into Powell and Mead.

I was reading something a few years ago that basically said the 20th century was an abnormally "wet" period for the Southwest and America just populated the area figuring it would always receive a similar amount of rain and snow. We're now leaning we over estimated.