https://www.zerohedge.com/weat...e-exposed-first-time

The top of the first water intake pipe at Lake Mead is now visible as the lake's plummeting water level hit a new record low.

"It's official – the top of Intake No. 1 is now visible and the low lake level pumping station is now operational," tweeted Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA).



After nearly half a century, the first intake is out of service and can no longer draw water. Water levels at the lake hit record lows this week, falling to 1,056 feet. Luckily, SNWA has two other intakes at much lower levels that are still operational.

"There was no impact to operation's ability to deliver water," Bronson Mack, public outreach officer SNWA, told CNN. "Customers didn't notice anything. It was a seamless transition," he said while referring to the switch of intake number 2.



Water flowing down the Colorado River supplies Lake Mead and Powell. The river system supports 40 million people across seven Western states and Mexico.



But as the Western half of the US faces one of the worst megadroughts in 1,200 years, water officials, such as Tom Buschatzke, Arizona's director of water resources, recently warned of an impending water crisis that could affect the drinking water for millions of people.

"I never thought this day would come this quickly ... But I think we always knew that this day was potentially out there," he said.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, water officials declared a water shortage emergency for the first time, according to KTLA in Los Angeles. New restrictions for Ventura and San Bernardino counties go into effect on June 1 and restrict people's ability to outdoor watering.

Social media users responded in shock to Lake Mead's intake pipe above the surface.

"Holy Christ, that's bad," one person said, quoting SNWA's tweet.

Water wars in the West?

"It's time to pull California's straws from the Colorado River," said one person.

The good news is Lake Mead has two other water inlets at lower depths to draw from, though levels are dropping fast as there is no sign the megadrought will be abating anytime soon.

The entire SW corner of the USA was a desert before huge numbers of people arrived. If anyone thinks drought is the sole reason for for depletion of the resource, they’re kidding themselves. I’m sure that increasing the population by hundreds of thousands of invaders will help though

If the commies in California like paying seven dollars a gallon for gas,
lets start charging them seven dollars a gallon for water. I thought they
got enough rain a couple years ago that filled up their reservoirs.
I don't know, live in a desert what do you expect?

california should have installed desalination plants decades ago instead of investing in a bloated bureaucracy and extra high salary's
They sucked most of the water from adjoining states for a hundred years.
I watch lots of documentaries ,they overlook the obvious .
They even have for years floated the idea of piping water thru a pipe from the Mississippi river .The thinking is sharing the rest of the countrys water with the western states.Oh and the rest of us should pay for also.

Don't desalinization plants use massive amounts of energy? Isn't CA already in some sort of energy crisis as well? Those of us living in more habitable environments better start preparing for mass migrations from CA into our communities. Undoubtedly, they will leave their troubles behind.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Don't desalinization plants use massive amounts of energy? Isn't CA already in some sort of energy crisis as well? Those of us living in more habitable environments better start preparing for mass migrations from CA into our communities. Undoubtedly, they will leave their troubles behind.

All of California's problems can be traced to radical green government and radical social program decisions made by the government. All their problems could be solved with the right people making decisions. It's a shame as there is no denying it is the most if not one of the most beautiful states in the union and should be the crown jewel.

quote:

Originally posted by Schmelby:
I thought they got enough rain a couple years ago that filled up their reservoirs.

When Jerry Brown was governor in the 1970, CA cancelled all of their huge reservoir, aqueduct, and dam projects due to 'environmental concerns". The Sites Reservoir, Temperance Flat Reservoir, the Aw Paw Reservoir, all cancelled. And no more built. CA has been using this same water storage system for a population that has more than doubled. The previously named reservoir projects would have more than doubled the water storage. As usual, leftist politics has turned to shit, again.

They "did" grow a lot of food out that way. The repercussions of this are not going to be pretty.

I remember reading how the wells surrounding Las Vegas dropped the Valley floor by more than a few feet as the water is pumped out. One new power generation plant nearby here dropped the water table 300 feet and local residents were drilled new wells to reach it. It's part of the Ogalla acquifer and that means people to the west where it flows will have less water. Locally the water company proposed and is installing a new lake, condemning farmland to increase our supplies which went from optimal in the 60's to high risk by 2000.

Obviously some lifestyle choices about suburban grass, unlimited home use, industrial use, commercial use and what restrictions must be imposed long term are going to be made. Like residential swimming pools, how to collect the already sparse rainwater, etc. The New Vegas look may be just long term dusty with a decorative gravel yard.

No mowing. Hmmm. Sounds good. Where did we decide to accept an intense grass farming operation resembling golf greens for lawns as a "upperclass" look? It's Euro royalty - and up thru the 50's nobody did that out west. The Suburbia moved in and it went toxic McMansion.

If they hadnt shut down all the nuke plants theyd have an energy surplus.


Fucking Jerry Brown's family was importing low sulfur oil from Indonesia and making a killing, so he jumped on the "no nukes" bandwagon back in the 70's under the guise of "save the environment", and so he could bang Linda Ronstadt.

Rad "Apocalpyse Never" by Michael Shellenberger if you want eh rest of the story.

"Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner is a great read as well about the water issues in the West. And water wars!!

IIRC the gov of AZ had National Guard troops on the border w CA and told them to go into CA and fuck their shit up if they (CA engineers) started drilling for water and the drills passed under the AZ state line.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Don't desalinization plants use massive amounts of energy? Isn't CA already in some sort of energy crisis as well? Those of us living in more habitable environments better start preparing for mass migrations from CA into our communities. Undoubtedly, they will leave their troubles behind.

And ! And!
There are people seriously talking about diverting water from the Mississippi river
Too the drought ridden So.West.

God forbid they can't play golf in a desert

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
And ! And!
There are people seriously talking about diverting water from the Mississippi river
Too the drought ridden So.West.

God forbid they can't play golf in a desert

The even more ambitious ones want to connect the Great Lakes to the southwest so they can have green lawns and seasonal allergies in the dessert.

My mom/stepdad live about 1/2 between Vegas & St George.

In the 90s/early 00s they had a houseboat on Mead. They relocated it twice as the lake level dropped & sold it when it became an hour drive to get to the boat.

It's been a few years since I've been to the dam, but was pretty amazed at the water level back then, considering how high I was shown it had been 10-15 years earlier.

I think the majority of diverted water is used to grow food. Perhaps they are growing food in the wrong place, but I don't think it's fair to say the water issues are because people want "green grass".

Expanding on 1967Goat’s post, don’t think that if you live somewhere besides the southwest, you are immune to the impact of the drought. What is at stake here is affordable food. Agriculture is responsible for 80% of the water usage. When that stops, we all will be paying much more to eat.

Southern Nevada Water District's most recent water bill included a note about watering being still restricted to ONE day a week (what they call their 'winter' schedule); this as temps have already been hitting the 90s here for the past month! The only thing one could support with that schedule this time of the year is rocks and cactus. Frankly, if the city of Las Vegas was really concerned about the water supply, they should have put the brakes on the tons of new housing and apartments currently going up; literally hundreds and hundreds, from what I see around town. A real mixed message, if you ask me...

California's water problems are self-inflicted and they should bear the burden of their decisions without jeopardizing everyone else

there is a penalty that needs to be paid for being stupid, and if they run out of water, its their fault and theirs alone

they had all the resources, but when you have a block of people who continually put the least competent people in decision-making positions, the final answer is ALWAYS disaster

I agree, shut off California from the Colorado River until they get their act together and leave the rest of us alone

my water bill tripled last month, and my actual use went down

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
The entire SW corner of the USA was a desert before huge numbers of people arrived. If anyone thinks drought is the sole reason for for depletion of the resource, they’re kidding themselves. I’m sure that increasing the population by hundreds of thousands of invaders will help though

This right here. Of course it does give the global warming whackos one more thing to point at and say, "SEE????!!!!!"

Nope. A few million people upstream taking showers and watering their lawns is causing this more than anything else. The ever exploding population of Vegas gets 90% of it's water from the river.

8 Billion set aside for water projects in the west out of 1 trillion. These people are morons.

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Harris to discuss drought, Biden climate change proposal at Lake Mead

By Suman Naishadham Published October 18, 2021


WASHINGTON - Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday will highlight the problems caused by Western drought as she visits Lake Mead in Nevada and makes the case for the Biden administration's infrastructure and climate change proposals that have stalled in Congress.

Harris will be briefed by Bureau of Reclamation officials about elevation levels at the manmade reservoir that supplies drinking water to 25 million people in the American West and Mexico, White House officials said Sunday.

After a tour, the vice president will make remarks and meet with officials from the Interior Department and other federal and state agencies, including the Southern Nevada Water Authority. She will be joined by U.S. Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford of Nevada.

Water levels at Lake Mead — created in the 1930s by the damming of the Colorado River — have fallen to record lows. In August, federal officials declared the first-ever water shortage in the Colorado River. As a result, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will receive less water than normal next year amid a drought gripping much of the West.

In September, Reclamation released projections showing an even worse outlook for the river.

Against this backdrop, the vice president is expected to promote President Joe Biden's big domestic policy agenda — originally billed at $3.5 trillion — for which Democrats are struggling to win moderates' support.

That agenda includes climate provisions the Biden administration has said would make the U.S. more resilient against the effects of climate change. Key elements include imposing new emissions restrictions through a federal clean energy requirement and providing tax breaks for the electrical vehicles industry.

Harris will also emphasize that climate change is poised to make extreme weather events such as droughts and heatwaves more frequent, expensive and harmful, White House officials said.

RELATED: Climate change: US report targets economic risks from extreme weather

Officials said Harris will discuss the separate $1 trillion public works infrastructure deal that passed the Senate months ago and is awaiting House approval. That package contains roughly $8 billion for Western water projects.

Some of the ways the plan would combat the effects of drought include investments in desalination technology that makes sea water usable, fortifying rural water infrastructure and building more wastewater recycling technology to help stretch existing supplies.

Western states experienced a dangerously hot summer that resulted in hundreds of deaths in the Pacific Northwest and brought scores of record-breaking wildfires intensified by drought.

Officials said Harris will also discuss how water shortages affect farmers, the nation’s food supply and the economy.

The Biden administration has said its infrastructure spending plans would create millions of jobs in repairing water infrastructure, restoring watersheds and wetlands and increasing water efficiency.

Amid a lack of support from some Democrats, Biden on Friday said he would rather cut the duration of some programs in the expansive social services and climate change package than strike out entire sections.

Link

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:


Officials said Harris will also discuss how water shortages affect farmers, the nation’s food supply and the economy.

I expect her speech will go something like this.

"There's a guy named McDonald and he has a farm and that farm uses water and water is wet and people get food from that farm."