Lake Mead low water levels

We have seen the bathtub ring for years now. IIRC the lake was so high around 2000 they had to open the bypass for the first time ever. Now it just gets lower and lower every year.

In the northeast we have always wondered how the southwest survives as it does. NV, NM, and AZ really were not meant for the large populations they now have and we may be seeing the results now. My feeling is we are now in a dry cycle that may last decades. The late-1800s were a wet cycle making people think "rain follows the plow." That cycle ended with the Dust Bowl.

This time all the population growth in the southwest is causing more draw of water. These kind of things do not turn on a dime. Water can be conserved short term, but same as oil we will need to find more supply long-term. We might do well to see how Israel went from a water-threatened place to one that exports water.

This will take decades to fix. We in the northeast have also discussed how when the water gets tight will it cause a migration of businesses then people back to the Great Lakes area where water is plentiful.

On youtube Eliot Jacobson has been doing a chess game/chat session that's kind of interesting, though I don't seem to last through the whole thing. He is really wound up about the drought and is wondering why the prediction that it will reach a serious crisis of a record nature is getting so little coverage.

Like you say, one wonders why the assumption that there would always be enough water was ever accepted.

From google search,

Quote:

People also ask
How did Israel solve their water problem?
The major breakthrough came with desalination, the process of removing salt from seawater. Desalination works by pushing saltwater into membranes containing microscopic pores. The water gets through, while the larger salt molecules are left behind. Israel's first desalination plant was built in Ashkelon in 2005.Jul 18, 2019

Makes for pricey water. I am willing to bet they are some of the best at conserving.

Quote: odiousgambit

From google search,

Makes for pricey water. I am willing to bet they are some of the best at conserving.

Quote: odiousgambit

On youtube Eliot Jacobson has been doing a chess game/chat session that's kind of interesting, though I don't seem to last through the whole thing. He is really wound up about the drought and is wondering why the prediction that it will reach a serious crisis of a record nature is getting so little coverage.

Like you say, one wonders why the assumption that there would always be enough water was ever accepted.

Thinking about it maybe just how humans are. Like when business is slow, then dead slow, then there is a layoff. Some people saw it a mile away but others have no surprise. A normal person should wonder how on earth you can have this kind of population in the middle of a desert. But the water comes and the masses say, "what, me worry?"

A big thing to think about is agriculture. Unless you have driven across California it is very hard to grasp just how much food is grown there. Will water be diverted from the fields to the population centers or the other way around? Before the faucets run dry thiungs like car washes and laundries will have to close or really cut back. SoCal is not exactly a place where people accept doing without.

I doubt if most people in Vegas use water in as miserly a way as those casino bathroom faucets. Though I think they increased the flow some during covid.

But anyway, point is, there is still aways to go in just basic usage reduction without doing anything fancy.

I suppose they could get right down to calculating how much water you need per person. And start charging more if you go over.

We have more water than we need here in Portland; come up and pump some out of the Columbia, yours for the taking.

Quote: missedhervee

We have more water than we need here in Portland; come up and pump some out of the Columbia, yours for the taking.

I'm not so sure but what something like that might be a solution, though I know nothing about it

if do-able, should have gotten started a few years ago

Quote: odiousgambit

I'm not so sure but what something like that might be a solution, though I know nothing about it

if do-able, should have gotten started a few years ago

Way back in the 80s I remember a story of how the southwestern states wanted to tap the Great Lakes for water. Of course the Great Lakes States said no way.