Reasons for Lake Mead drought crisis

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

The United States’ largest reservoir, Lake Mead is draining rapidly as a result of extreme, climate change-fueled drought and increasing demand for water.

On Wednesday, Lake Mead recorded its lowest level since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s.

Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona border, is poised to become the focal point of one of the country’s most significant climate crises: water shortages in the West.

Researchers have said that millions of people will be affected in the coming years and decades by the Colorado River shortage alone with some being forced to make painful water cuts.

It’s not a threat on the horizon; new projections show the first-ever water shortage along the Colorado River is all but certain to be declared later this year, CNN stated in a report.

John Fleck, director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, said, “Even without climate change, we would have a problem because we’re taking more water out than the river could provide. But climate change has made the problem much worse by substantially reducing the flow in the river.”

Lake Mead is around 143 feet below ‘full,’ a deficit roughly the height of the Statue of Liberty

The water in Lake Mead on Wednesday reached a new low — 1070.6 feet above sea level — since it was filled in the 1930’s, according to data provided by the US Bureau of Reclamation. More precisely, every day for the past eight days has been a record as rapid evaporation and human use siphon water from the reservoir.

As water drains from Lake Mead, a “bathtub ring” of minerals is left on the shore, showing its decline. The height of the ring in June was roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty without its base.

About a century ago, representatives from seven U.S. states — Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico — struck a deal to divvy up the Colorado River.

Hydrologists warned that officials were promising more water than the river could give, according to Fleck. But in an era driven by power and politics, their warnings were largely ignored and plans moved forward.