LAS VEGAS (AP) – A huge drought-hungry reservoir on the Colorado River is so depleted that Las Vegas is now pumping water deeper into Lake Mead, where other downstream countries have no access.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority announced this week that its low-level pumping station is in operation and released photos of the top catchment, which is visible 1,050 feet (320 meters) above sea level in the lake behind Hoover Dam.
“While this underscores the severity of the drought, we have been preparing for it for more than a decade,” said Bronson Mack, a spokesman for the water authorities. The low intake allows Las Vegas to “maintain access to its main water supply in Lake Mead, even if water levels continue to fall due to the continuing drought and climate change conditions,” he said.
The move to start using what was thought to be a fence in case we needed it against running dry taps comes as water managers in several states that rely on the Colorado River take new steps to conserve water in the face of this. which has become a permanent drought.
“We do not currently have enough water supplies to meet normal demand. The water is not there, “Rebecca Kimic, a spokeswoman for the Southern California Water District, said this week. The agency told about 6 million people in the vast counties of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino to reduce outdoor watering to one day a week, effective June 1, or face heavy fines.
The surface level of another massive Colorado River reservoir, Lake Powell, fell below a critical threshold in March, raising concerns about whether Glen Canyon could continue to generate energy for about 5 million customers in the western United States.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest man-made reservoirs in the United States, part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border of Mexico.
At Lake Mead, the new pumps are powered by an inlet drilled closer to the bottom of the lake and completed in 2020 to ensure the possibility of continuing to withdraw water to Las Vegas, its casinos, suburbs and 2.4 million residents. and 40 million tourists a year.
The “Third Straw” draws drinking water 895 feet (272.8 meters) above sea level – below the point where water will not be discharged downstream from Hoover Dam.
Together, the pipeline and pump projects cost more than $ 1.3 billion. Drilling began in 2014 amid forecasts that the lake’s level will continue to fall due to drought. The increasingly dry conditions in the region are now due to long-term climate change.
Lake Mead, between Nevada and Arizona, reached its high water in July 1983, at 1,225 feet (373.4 meters) above sea level. On Friday, the level was 1,055 feet (321.6 meters) – about 30% full. Some of the steepest cliffs bordering the lake show a 170-foot (51.8-meter) white mineral bath ring.
“Without the third reception, South Nevada would have closed its doors,” said Pat Mulroy, a longtime Las Vegas-based water manager who is now a consultant. “That’s pretty obvious, since the first straw came out of the water.”
The mid-level pipeline can also draw water from 1,000 feet (304.8 meters).
Authorities say Las Vegas’s water supply is not immediately threatened. He cites water conservation efforts, which he said have reduced regional consumption of Colorado water by 26 percent since 2002, while the region’s population has grown by 49 percent.
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