Lake Mead is Going Down


I was on a statewide water board in North Dakota for 18 years. Along with water issues in the city where I was a Mayor I soaked up a lot about the politics, myths and engineering of water. Certainly, I'm not an expert in the field. 

There is one thing present in a lot of water issues, hubris. It is thinking humans can move water, use water and clean up water no matter where humans choose to live, what they dump into water or how much water they choose to use. Most everyone has heard of the Colorado River. It is one of best examples anywhere of human hubris. It passes through an area on the globe where humans mostly should not live. They have moved there in the millions and now nature is taking away their water. 

I'm simplifying the areas by talking of only Lake Mead. It is a man made lake formed by the famous Hoover Dam. There is also a reservoir adjacent. Those and other waters serve several million in the area including sin city, Las Vegas. 

While the level of Lake Mead is not yet the lowest on record it is very low for this time of the year. This is the season when the mountain snow melt should be packing in water for the coming August. Conservative critics of California have been posting sarcastic articles about how people are leaving that state. Conservative blame the exodus on liberal policies in California's government. Lots of the them have been moving to low tax Arizona. Maybe liberals will have the last laugh when people have to leave Arizona. 

North Dakota has had its own version of mistaken water policy. For decades the Garrison Diversion Project was predicted to make the state blossom in green crops and green money. It is now relegated to a huge costly mistake with nothing to show for it except deep man made cuts in the earth now held from caving in with taxpayer money. It, too, should have a sign in front saying, "Hubris." The Colorado River, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are the same hubris but with an unfathomable cost. 

I suppose the are preachers along the Colorado including sin city Las Vegan praying for rain. No doubt preachers along the upper Missouri in ND are doing the same. It might be more productive for preachers and priests to remind their flocks an unlimited number of babies living where there is a limited supply of water will unleash the wrath of God. 

Drought is made all the worse by hubris.

Comments

  1. Bryan KMay 16, 2021 at 5:11 AM

    The problem with the Colorado river is that the water is over-allocated. Here in Phoenix, it has only been over the last 10-15 years that the state of Arizona has gained the capacity to store all of the water that we have the rights to, and the result is essentially that California can't have it anymore.

    Additionally, over 90% of the water here in Arizona is used for agricultural purposes. Furthermore, our annual water usage here is decreasing year-over-year, and it has been for some time, so it isn't the high population, per se, that is straining the water supply. Additionally, in California, a significant amount of their water supply has to be used for environmental purposes. For instance, the rivers draining into the delta in the northern part of the state have to keep at a certain capacity or higher to keep the brackish water from creeping upstream.

    The primary reason people are moving out of California is due to the high cost of living. I would say that from an environmental standpoint, here in Phoenix, the largest issue we face is air pollution. We tend to be wise to water policy because we live in a desert, and as long as we continue to be wise, we will continue to have a surplus. Therefore, it's really not on the radar.

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