The loss of grain from Russia (#1 grain exporter) and Ukraine (#5 grain exporter)
will solve the problem.

The upside is we, as Americans, are pretty immune to this.
We are food independent (as long as you are willing to give up out of season vegetables) and can be energy independent with little problems (fracking anyone?)

The downside is the death of billions of people, across the world, from starvation.
Problem solved. At least according to Joe Steel.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/iLGPuzfHEyKkw/giphy.gif
Isn’t that what this movie was about?

Wow..."Judgement Day" such gloomy Gus's...

S Cal sucked the Owens Valley dry starting in 1905. So LA could water their lawns..
Also SF got the adjacent valley to Yosemite.. Hetch Hetchy Valley dam built by 1919... John Muir was at least able to save Yosemite Valley from the thirsty folks in SF. Otherwise is would be underwater now as well.

S NV has had restrictions on residential landscape watering for the past 10 years or so. the only water lost in this valley is through evaporation. the rest is recycled through Lake Mead.

Yes they have just completed a new water intake at a lower level in Lake Mead, or LV would be outa water right now.

I know nothing about water reclamation in the Vegas area, curious, where do the sewers drain to?

Not to be a "downer" as this is a major problem for those affected, but what do you do or where do you safely dispose of the brine byproduct of desalination? Also how to address the issues of the inherent dangers & unintended consequences of side-streaming water from one watercourse & introducing it into another.

This problem is one not easily solved but is most certainly approaching a point of criticality. I just wish it was within the realm of feasibility to pipe off some of our excess rainfall to the south west instead of it just heading straight for the ocean. There will of course always be necessary environmental impacts to be dealt with. As I say - one helluva complex issue.

Cheers
JB

Say we do build a water grid to drain water out of the Mississippi.

How severe will the adverse environmental impacts be downstream?

There was a time when the Colorado River drained into the Gulf of Mexico. Now we take almost 100% of that water. Here in California, there is plenty of water in the North, which is sent South, because Southern California is irresponsible with water use. This has had a catastrophic effect on the Delta, due to salt water intrusion.

Real deep tunnels for sure.
https://i.redd.it/khlk827wix061.jpg

Lake Mead. :D

i believe the brine issue is mostly from the old technology desal plants around the Red Sea. They use the boiling process while plants being planned now use reverse osmosis and deep ocean discharge, and offer much less brine production.

This. Try to support giant ag and large populations in essentially a desert is non sustainable. We've killed the Colorado river basin, now lets move on to the rest of the country? No thanks.

I figured that out poking around on Google maps. I thought water flowed in to Lake Las Vegas from Lake Mead. It's the other way around. I was out there a years ago. It seemed to me that Lake LV was on higher ground that Vegas itself.

Whomever is in charge, better make damn sure that the brine discharge piping outfall is far enough beyond the littoral zone to mitigate the effects of any unforeseen ecological impacts on an environmentally sensitive area. Piping to & beyond the edge of the continental shelf might be an answer - but at present, exceeds any economically or practical solutions at hand - at least as far as I am aware of.

There just ain't no easy fixes - - yet.

Cheers
JB

The article linked above mentioned the discharge is located 7 miles out or more?
Sea water is 2% salt the discharge is 5% salt.

No, that was not what it was about. Read "Blood sweat and chrome" the book.

California Coastal Commission kaboshed the project recently.
Go back two steps???

I see that now. Interestingly the CCC mentioned that in the future "other" desal plants might be okay. This is in keeping with California perfecting don't-solve-any-problems. In the end they will place the blame on farmers and residents and still do nothing.
We wait for the day when we turn on the tap and nothing comes out. Then all of a sudden desal is approved.

Lake Powell supplies California with water? I know they supply five states with Powell water. Not sure which five.

I’m not shocked all droughts conversations trickle to California. I get it. But at least California is talking about it. Can Vegas conserve?

On a personal level. All the lakes I fish are so low. I see it weekly and the impending doom I feel is real. I’m glad I don’t have children. I’d worry way more.

Too many people :rolleyes:

Reminds me of a billboard "You are not IN traffic - you ARE Traffic."

It's a real cop-out to claim that more death is the solution. There exist much less draconian measures than all of that.

Or, I suppose CA simply needs to own no water and be happy about it.

^^

Vegas takes it very seriously and are huge proponents of water conservation. They will pay you (through rebates) to rip out your lawn and replace with a xeriscape yard. The big water fountains on the strip all use reclaimed water. Las Vegas gets nearly all of its water from Lake Mead so they are very aware of what lies ahead.

According to the links, the problem is the electric demand. - which flushes water to create power. for things like Tesla's, A/C, Vegas grand lights and fountains... ;).