Study: Nevada’s Lake Mead has a fifty percent chance of going dry by 2021
Water supplies and access to water supplies are sure to be among the most significant battles humanity has on its hands for the 21st century. Sustainable fresh water sources are under siege as industry emerges in developing nations and western countries continue their unabated growth, so much so that the United Nations recently made the protection of said sources a focal point of its current environmental strategy.
Lake Mead expected to be dry by 2021
Nevada’s Lake Mead can be used as a case study when looking at the long term sustainability both of water-related megaprojects and the impact that human activity has on the landscape around it. Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the United States, emerged when the Hoover Dam blocked the Colorado River in 1935. The Hoover Dam generates electricity for residents of Arizona, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and parts of Southern California.
Recent research indicates that the strain that current usage is placing on the system is too great and scientists have found that there is a significant chance that Lake Mead will run dry by 2021. Researchers from Scripps Oceanographic Institute released their findings a couple of days ago and their claims are unsettling:
These conclusions are based on sound scientific principles, and the source paper has been submitted to a journal for peer review.
What makes this report scary, however, is that there are parallel problems all around the world, something that more site specific studies will uncover. As the evidence for global warming becomes more and more significant, we’ll likely find that the world’s fresh water sources are under siege, and we’ll start seeing similar claims popping up around North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
