All the warning signs were there - but they were ignored for decades.
The alarm bells really went off this year– hopefully not too late!
The Colorado River – the direct lifeline for more than 42 million people, and indirectly
for tens of millions more is in peril.
“It's really bad right now and it's only supposed to get worse next year.
You know, the fundamental aspect to this, though, is that we experts, and decision makers,
we've known for decades that there's this challenge on the Colorado River.
We've known that we take more water out of the system and the river can actually supply,
but we've known that.”
” In the west of the United States water is the new gold, the most sought-after commodity.
For the states of Utah and Wyoming, for Arizona, California, for Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado
water has become a huge problem.
The same goes for dozens of native American tribes and communities of indigenous people.
All face harsh water cutbacks and tremendous challenges in the future.
Things are so bad- the federal government had to step in.
Washington DC - The Department of Interior and its’ Federal Bureau of Reclamation.
In an audio only-press conference – a sound assessment of what is now slugged a drought
or water crisis and of what has become a top priority for the White House.
“The prolonged drought afflicting the West is one of the most significant challenges
facing our communities in our country.
Right now, almost 93% of the western United States is experiencing drought, or abnormally
dry conditions, with more than 70% of the western United States experiencing severe
or extreme drought conditions.”
Those “prolonged” drought conditions manifest even in the Rocky Mountains.
Global warming and climate change make for very mild winters that don’t produce enough
snow melt anymore for the Colorado River to carry downstream into Lake Powell, Lake Mead
and beyond.
“The Colorado River Basin is in its 23rd year of a historic drought.
Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead the two largest reservoirs in the United States are at historically
low levels with combined storage of 28% of their capacity.
The system is approaching a tipping point.
And without action, we cannot protect the system for the millions of Americans who rely
on this critical resource.”
We’re meeting with Christian Gerlach, a community activist and senior representative
of national environmental organization the “Sierra Club”.
Christian wants to show us a place called Echo Bay within what is known as Lake Mead
National Recreational Area – just a few miles east of Las Vegas.
“Hardly anybody ever comes to Echo Bay unfortunately.
It was very popular spot, so popular in fact it had an airport, but as you can see the
water levels dropped so dramatically, it’s effected the economy of the area.
There are not people coming out to visit and to recreate as much here in Echo Bay.”
Echo Bay is not the only spot falling victim to unprecedented and record low water levels
of Lake Mead.
From where the water stood in 2008, Mead visitors now must drive almost 1093 yards, or a kilometer
more, until they can launch their boats.
Besides, there’s the only one boat ramp left open.
Years ago, there were 12.
The Marina, once a bustling hot spot for boaters and water sport enthusiasts has more mostly
empty parking space now than ever before.
At Lake Mead - created by the Hoover Dam, - one can see and experience what it means
when experts say “the system is at a tipping point”.
“I’d be concerned.
Seems lower than average and global warming has something going on with it.”
Christina Taub - a flight attendant from Germany - also visits Hoover Dam, she is alarmed by
what she observed.
“I think the bell should have rung a long time ago and it should keep ringing.
Something has to be done about it.
It is very dangerously low.
And we’re actually part of a flight crew and we flew over a few
days ago and just to see it also from above at 40,000 feet – I can show you pictures,
it’s unbelievable!”
Mead’s water level shrank by a whopping 150-plus feet in the last 40 years.
An ever-growing so-called white bathtub ring here and at other reservoirs will have devastating
effects for all US states in the lower Colorado River Basin, for tens of millions of people
and hundreds of thousands of businesses in Nevada, Arizona, California and even in Mexico.
“The impacts we're seeing from climate change are I think, you know, most of what we are
more are happening quicker than we would have expected.
And things the impacts of snowpack translating into flows in the river are being impacted
by climate change things like soil moisture, temperatures, evapo-transpiration, all these
little mechanisms, all these little components to the hydrologic cycle.
Here in the West, are being squeezed by climate change.”
“We are on track to see additional drops in the water levels, to the point where it’s
scary.
We may face what is called “dead pool”, where water will not even flow out of Lake
Mead further down the Colorado River system.”
No shortage of water in so-called Sin City.
The expansive water fountain display in front of Las Vegas’ iconic Hotel Bellagio is just
one example.
What a waste?
Not so fast!
Las Vegas, boom town and self-declared entertainment capital of the world is in fact top of the
line when it comes to water recycling, preservation and conservation.
“So, places like Las Vegas, have actually done amazing efforts in terms of water conservation.
If every city that relied on Colorado River water would do as Las Vegas has done, our
cities would be in a much better spot.
Las Vegas has really been a leader when it comes to water conservation.
So, things like the pools you're looking at, like the big fountains in front of Bellagio
that's recycled water that's not potable water.”
In Las Vegas pictures like this- sprinklers irrigating golf courses or public parks - won’t
make for a lot of fuss.
All water used is recycled, re-used over and over again.
In the cities suburbs homeowners rip out the grass in their front and back yards and replace
it with gravel or fake grass.
Throughout the city so called “no-functional turf grass” is banned now.
Most areas of turf that require a lot of irrigation have been replaced.
“The Southern Nevada Water Authority has taken tremendous steps toward reducing the
water usage.
In the past 20 years, the state of Nevada has seen tremendous growth in the Las Vegas
Valley.
But we've actually seen a decrease in our water usage.
Thanks to programs that help people take out their water thirsty lawns.”
That’s good news of course and those measures are critically important.
However, they won’t make a difference big enough to create change on a larger scale
needed to prevent even worse drought and water conditions in the future.
“We do need to make hard cuts that that's the fundamental solution on the Colorado River
is we have to use less water and you know the scale of how much we need to use less
is millions of acre feet.
So, you know, the Colorado River on average, in the last 20 years, it's applied like 13-to-14-million-acre
feet per year 13 to 14 million acre feet.
You know, the Bureau of Reclamation who manages the system is telling us we need to cut 2-to-4-million-acre
feet.
So that's like 15 to 30% of how much water we use on economy needs to be cut immediately.
So that's a lot of water.
That's a big scale.”
Experts warn that Only unprecedented big scale water use reductions, strict water conservation,
and ultimately the de-carbonization of our economies – will secure the Colorado River
as a life source for tens of millions of people and for hundreds of thousands of businesses.
“We got to decarbonize our economies, we've got to address the situation of the carbon
cycle which is intricately linked to the natural water cycle.
There is tremendous amounts more carbon in the atmosphere than there was several decades
ago.
And that trend continues on and as we see that we will see additional heat waves we
will see this additional heat urban island effect in suburban areas where we do have
more asphalt when it rains, especially here in Las Vegas.
A lot of asphalt funnels the water towards Lake Mead, but a lot of it is lost due to
evaporation it no longer penetrates the water table.
So, it's all an interconnected system.
And we've got to take a look at our developed society is currently operating to make those
changes.”
Making those - perhaps painful but strongly needed changes is not a can-do any longer,
but a must-do, experts say.
Otherwise the mighty Colorado River is feared to become not much more than a trickle – rather
sooner than later.