Source link : https://las-vegas.news/research-seems-at-realistically-obtainable-water-in-lake-mead-lake-powell-a-12-months-from-now/
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — “Immediate and substantial reductions” in Colorado River water use may very well be wanted a lot before anybody predicted, in line with a research printed final week.
The issue: Persons are utilizing extra water than the quantity that has been coming down the river and it might attain a tipping level by the top of subsequent summer season, a College of Colorado research suggests. Which means laborious selections are forward until a really moist winter rescues 40 million water customers alongside the river.
A repeat of situations this 12 months — near-average snowpack (91% of regular), however streamflow ranges projected at 52% of common — might put new stress on the river.
“If next year is a repeat of this year and uses of water remain the same, we estimate that consumptive use will exceed the natural flow in the Colorado River Basin by at least 3.6 million acre feet,” the CU research stated. An acre foot is the quantity of water wanted to cowl an acre of land in water a foot deep — 325,851 gallons.
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That 3.6 million acre toes, the research stated, equates to about half of the realistically obtainable water saved within the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
“Lake Mead and Lake Powell would absorb the bulk of that imbalance, causing drawdown of a great deal of the storage remaining in those…
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Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-09-16 05:34:00
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