Lake Mead Water Level At Record Low Point

Over the weekend, the news feeds brought a renewed concern for the drought in the American Southwest with reports of Lake Mead recording the lowest water level ever in history. This new evidence is the most visible sign of the effect that the horrific drought has maintained over the western U.S. in recent years. The change in snowfall totals in the Rockies and the associated water which comes from when that melts and enters the river system which feeds the Colorado River is a domino effect which has initiated renewed concerns throughout the region.

Lake Mead is the main source for water for Las Vegas and its 2 million residents as well as the several million guests who vacation to the desert resort destination annually. The water authority for the region has a plan in place where it will divert more water from the Colorado River through the Hoover Dam and into Lake Mead to offset the impact of these torrid drought conditions.

This diversion of water, while a short term solution, is really the only viable solution available at this point. In my prior work on this topic, I learned a great deal about the water supply system, and like anything else, when there is limited supply and increasing demand then adjustments have to be made. I also learned that Las Vegas has excellent water conservation, reusability, and sustainability campaigns in place so they cannot operate with any more efficiency than they currently do within the latest technology available.

This drought and the accompanying water supply disruptions in California, Arizona, and other western states is nothing new. The effects of climate change and decreasing rates of precipitation have plagued that region for the past few years. The regional water authorities have had to become creative with their supply and demand dilemmas. The restrictions on water usage for residents in California and the coinciding acquiescence to allow beverage companies to bottle water for profit was the subject of a previous article I wrote on this issue.

The precipitous drop in the water level at Lake Mead and in other western reservoirs calls into question the future implications for the residents of that region as well as sustaining the tourism aspect of Las Vegas, which is the main catalyst for the economy in Nevada.

Some of you may know that the water in the Colorado River is divided among several states in the region based on a federal law passed several decades ago. The news media in the west is anticipating a potential interstate dispute over water supply to be the end result of the Lake Mead water supply decline. In the current agreement I was surprised to learn that Nevada gets the smallest portion of the Colorado River reserves, but the larger issue is the ramifications of a longer term disruption in water supply.

In my own personal journey covering this critically important topic I wrote and included a poem called “Drought Conditions” in a prior commentary op-ed piece. The poem was very well received in a stand-alone link as well. Those sentiments still sadly hold true to this day. The drought in the west involving water is indicative of a much larger drought in our society at large. We have moved away from our core values as a country and that has caused a downward spiral across the board.

The solutions to this drought in Nevada and California are not clear, whether we will witness an interstate debate with Congress involved over water rights remains to be seen. However, if we returned to our root national values and put the common good of our fellow citizens at the forefront of our decisions, if we shared our resources and our solutions instead of hoarding them, our country as well as our society would be a much better place.