Lake Mead so low that intake pump is now visible

https://storage.googleapis.com/cdn.t...o-1024x768.jpg

Good article about it: https://thenevadaindependent.com/art...oid-a-day-zero

Lake Mead is now at 1,056 feet above sea level. The Southern Nevada Water Authority's shallowest pumping station cannot pump water to Vegas if the lake goes below 1050, so this is very close to happening.

They installed two other pumping stations at 1,000 and 875 feet, so Vegas doesn't go completely dry if Lake Mead declines further.

However, at 895 feet, the water can no longer pass through Hoover Dam, which will cause all kinds of other problems, including ending the water supply to California, Arizona, and even some parts of northern Mexico!

The lake's maximum level is 1,219 feet. Years of low rainfall have caused Lake Mead to decline. December 2021 was a historically wet year for the western US, fueling hope that this would mean the end of the drought. However, the next four months were among the driest on record, which was catastrophic because December through March tend to be the months which produce most of the water for California, Arizona, and Nevada.

It is highly unusual for much rain to fall in these states between May and September, meaning the situation will get worse.

I wonder if desalination plants will become en vogue again. In 1990, after years of drought, there was talk of installing these along the southern California coast, especially in Santa Barbara, whose local water source Lake Cachuma was getting extremely low. It was (erroneously) estimated at the time that it would take "40 consecutive winter storms" to fix the problem -- something obviously impossible to occur.

However, in March 1991, there were two consecutive large storms. The first saturated the ground, and the second caused tons of water runoff down nearby hills and mountains, thus filling Lake Cachuma to capacity. This left sky-is-falling environmentalists red-faced, and this "March miracle" permanently shuttered talk of desalination plants.

Now things are much worse, though, and we might actually need these soon. Las Vegas will not have such an option, as it is not near any oceans.

As long as people who move to LV choose to plant grass and bushes like they had "back home" and need to constantly water them, the day of doom awaits all of Southern Nevada. This has been a long time coming. Politicians chose to kick the can down the road. And because they don't care, I don't care. Whenever I'm in a LV hotel room, I take the longest, hottest showers I can several times a day.

It's not about landscaping. Blaming landscaping is like putting a bandaid on a dam that is about to burst.

There are two factors. There has been a drought and there are too many people living in the Southwest areas served by the Colorado River.

When Lake Mead was created California wasn't the most populated state and Las Vegas was a train stop.

We have more water than we need in the Pac NW, at least at certain times of year.

Why haven't the feds built pumps and pipes to ship water from the Columbia river to the desert SW during times of high water flow?

We don't need the excess water: win-win.

There is some agency in Las Vegas that runs around and finds all the spots where water is wasted. I remember being at Arizona Charlie's on Decatur when they were watering. They were wasting so much water it was running down the street.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mickeycrimm

There is some agency in Las Vegas that runs around and finds all the spots where water is wasted. I remember being at Arizona Charlie's on Decatur when they were watering. They were wasting so much water it was running down the street.

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Currently being wasted at my house on a 24/7 basis.
Water Bill is the Cheapest Bill I got.
Might as well use it.
When I get on a Sportsbook Losing Streak I like to blast my Dogs with the Hose.
Fuckers only weigh 35 pounds.
I got 240 pounds on them.
If I lose again today... I will knock them the Fuck out!
They've Been Warned!

I saw some report that says Vegas has a very good system of recycling water used in homes and businesses... but ornamental vegetation irrigation cannot be recycled.

The Bellagio fountains, for example, use very little water but golf courses are a major problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MisterV

We have more water than we need in the Pac NW, at least at certain times of year.

Why haven't the feds built pumps and pipes to ship water from the Columbia river to the desert SW during times of high water flow?

We don't need the excess water: win-win.

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I've heard proposals about that, but for some reason they never gain traction. I'm not sure how expensive it would be to build a piping system like that, though. Keep in mind we're talking about a lot of distance. It's over 1100 miles from Seattle to Los Angeles.

I'm not sure if that's cheaper, or if desalination plants are cheaper. Perhaps desalination will become cheaper over time. Cruise ships already do this. When you go on a cruise, you're drinking ocean water! (This is also why the showers can seem to not get you feeling clean -- the water is very soft!)

The shortage in Vegas definitely isn't about the hotels. First off, most of the water is sucked up by California. Nevada uses less than 1% of it, I believe. Second, the Vegas metro area is big enough to where it dwarfs the population of hotel occupants. Furthermore, hotel occupants don't use as much water as residents, because they do not use water for anything besides drinking or hygiene. Tourists aren't landscaping, and the water used for hotel landscaping is very little per capita regarding the number of hotel occupants.

Rob can take all the hot showers he wants when he stays at Flamingo.

The only reason Los Angeles has a water system from mountains to the city including the LA aqueduct is that it runs with the power of gravity.

Is there a clear line of sight downhill route from the Pacific northwest? Otherwise those pumping stations are going to be mighty costly.

This might clear up some questions.

https://www.snwa.com/water-resources...ply/index.html

Key paragraph:

"Southern Nevada recycles nearly all water used indoors through direct or indirect reuse. But water that is used outdoors cannot be captured, treated or used again—this is a consumptive use of water because the water is fully consumed by plants, grass and evaporation."

Rob's shower water is being reused.

They should get maxpuke out there to Lake Mead. He can suck the chrome off a hubcap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Rob's shower water is being reused.

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Yup.... straight on over to kew's joint. :)

This water sharing treaty or agreement or whatever is almost 100 years old. Las Vegas, Pheonix, California and everywhere else has grown way beyond what anyone could imagine when these agreements were signed. Even Mexico has a right to some of the water by these agreements. Fuck that. Mexico needs to figure their own solution. :D

But the problem really is California now. California is going to have to get its water from the ocean, no matter what the cost. There just is no other answer. And I think if you take California out of the mix, there is plenty of water for everyone else for quite a while.

Nevada signed off most of it's rights to the water back in the 30's.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mit-engin...212012910.html

and then there is this

Pipe Great Lakes water to the Southwest. Right now its only a pipe dream, but could happen in the future. Right now we guard our water as if it was gold. To pipe water out of the Great Lakes would require approval of 8 states and Canada.
https://www.wateronline.com/doc/is-g...pipedream-0001

The west is getting a lot of rain. Does this mean Lake Mead will be refilled?

Nope!

Unfortunately, Lake Mead is primarily filled by the Basin of the Upper Colorado River, which is comprised mostly of eastern Utah and western Colorado, which includes part of the Rocky Mountains.

The Rockies have had below-normal snowfall this season. There's still time left for it to turn around, but at the moment it's not looking good.

What will improve from the rainfall? California. The state gets about 1/3 of its supply from the Sierra Nevada range, which has had a big snow year so far. Another 1/3 comes from ground water, which should also be in more supply after the rains throughout the state. Reservoirs will also naturally be filled when the winter is over, most likely.

California still gets 1/3 of its water supply from the Colorado River, which will put further strain on Lake Mead. Los Angeles gets about half of its water from there. This can be adjusted, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to do that.

I would think that after a winter like this, they should leave the Colorado River alone for now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monet

Currently being wasted at my house on a 24/7 basis.
Water Bill is the Cheapest Bill I got.
Might as well use it.
When I get on a Sportsbook Losing Streak I like to blast my Dogs with the Hose.
Fuckers only weigh 35 pounds.
I got 240 pounds on them.
If I lose again today... I will knock them the Fuck out!
They've Been Warned!

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LULZ... nice to come back and read this post.
Fucking Hilarious.
Now I just need to go get drunk and kick my dogs around the house.