Lake Mead drops to lowest level in history

[the game]

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The nation’s largest reservoir has broken a record, declining to the lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s.

Lake Mead reached the all-time low Wednesday night, slipping below a previous record set in June 2015.

The downward march of the reservoir near Las Vegas reflects enormous strains on the over-allocated Colorado River. Its flows have decreased during 16 years of drought, and climate change is adding to the stresses on the river.

As the levels of Lake Mead continue to fall, the odds are increasing for the federal government to declare a shortage in 2018, a step that would trigger cutbacks in the amounts flowing from the reservoir to Arizona and Nevada. With that threshold looming, political pressures are building for California, Arizona and Nevada to reach an agreement to share in the cutbacks to avert an even more severe shortage.

“This problem is not going away and it is likely to get worse, perhaps far worse, as climate change unfolds,” said Brad Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. “Unprecedented high temperatures in the basin are causing the flow of the river to decline. The good news is that we have time and the smarts to manage this, if all the states work together.”

He said that will require “making intelligent but difficult changes to how we have managed the river in the past.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...tory/84628000/

[Reg]

“making intelligent but difficult changes to how we have managed the river in the past.”

Here's an idea. Stop building cities in the desert.

[Blobfish]

Lake Mead aye
Maybe the Dwarves have drunk it all

[Gorgodeus]

“making intelligent but difficult changes to how we have managed the river in the past.”

Here's an idea. Stop building cities in the desert.

Yeah, the current 15 year drought in the area has nothing to with it. It is the cities fault.

[Reg]

Yeah, the current 15 year drought in the area has nothing to with it. It is the cities fault.

Not 100% their fault, but all these people that decide to live in a desert put a strain on an already dwindling supply.

[Theodarzna]

Yeah, the current 15 year drought in the area has nothing to with it. It is the cities fault.

Admittedly California isn't the sort of climate to house 38 million people, AND produce so much in crops and Alfalfa.