No more Lake Mead?

[v1_0]

They are predicting it to dry up by 2021:

"http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080212/sc_livescience/lakemeadcoulddryupby2021;_ylt=ArxZwyohLX.WFYF2ypuYUAys0NUE"

This may be the wrong forum. Anyway - what measures are being taken to prevent this?

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

They are blaming it in large part on global warming, and there is a simple solution to global warming, if we are willing to give up this tree hugging notion that we shouldn't dominate and control the planet. For less than a billion bucks, we could launch one or even more than one satellite with large mylar deflectors into a solarsynchronus orbit that would block out a small fraction of the suns energy when positioned to do so. Even if they only block 1% of the suns energy, that's enough to undo all of the warming that has occured over the last 100 years in less than a week. As a bonus, they could be directed in such ways as to sap energy from hurricanes, effectively killing them before they had a chance to do any harm.

Anyway, I digress, that won't happen because as humans we have this fuzzy bunny notion about the environment that says that anything man does to the environment is evil.

Get ready for a thirsty Vegas. Actually, they'll just truck in bottled water, it's not being able to flush that will raise a stink.

 

[joed]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

It's all scientists on government grants making their dire predictions to justify thier work and keep getting their grant money. We had the opposite problem on Lake Erie 20 years ago with high water levels. They predictied it would take at least 10 years before the problem would go away. We had one year of low rain fall and the problem was gone. Now the problem is starting to go the opposite way with low water levels.

 

[v1_0]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

Well... It looks like 230 miles from Los Angelos (Pacific Ocean) to Las Vegas. We pipe oil further than that - so a desalination plant or two and some pipes?

 

[v1_0]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

For less than a billion bucks, we could launch one or even more than one satellite with large mylar deflectors into a solarsynchronus orbit that would block out a small fraction of the suns energy when positioned to do so. Even if they only block 1% of the suns energy, that's enough to undo all of the warming that has occured over the last 100 years in less than a week. As a bonus, they could be directed in such ways as to sap energy from hurricanes, effectively killing them before they had a chance to do any harm.

Anyway, I digress, that won't happen because as humans we have this fuzzy bunny notion about the environment that says that anything man does to the environment is evil.

It's not a fuzzy bunny notion for me: I have more a concern about not getting it right, or something stupid like the deflectors getting stuck in the open position.

Imagine the arguments between countries about this sort of thing. How much sun to block? When, etc...
I saw an story that some places will benefit from (a little) global warming while others suffer. Who will decide who benefits, and who dosn't? The UN?

Or more sinister, like Dr. Evil getting the control codes...

-V

 

[oops!]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

vegas gets its water from mead........

the big buck boys wont let it dry up......

vegas all ready has some of the best water conservation systems in place.

and global warming has recently been replaced by the notion that it is getting colder......russian scientists are calling for an ice age......

so i guess youll need a set of sno skis to pull behind a dry lake wind surfer..........

 

[muskyone]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

hate to tell you this but global warming will cause a ice age

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

How are we going to make the chinese and Indians not burn coal and not buy and drive the millions of cars they are starting to buy like crazy. For everything any of us here in the USA does to help the situation there are about 30 of them doing the oposite. We can always over run the canadian borders and move north to cooler weather when it gets too hot...

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

For less than a billion bucks, we could launch one or even more than one satellite with large mylar deflectors into a solarsynchronus orbit that would block out a small fraction of the suns energy when positioned to do so. Even if they only block 1% of the suns energy, that's enough to undo all of the warming that has occured over the last 100 years in less than a week.

Considering that the profile footprint of the earth is 15,705,369 square miles, 1% would be 157,053 square miles, or 1.005135e+008 acres. The satelite deflectors would have to be well over 100 million acres. Now there's a well thought-out plan.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

Read an article on that subject today. Seemed in the near future there will be lots of really cheap houses and boats for sale. The gubment could just put a whole bunch of nuclear reactors out there to generate electricity and use the water for drinking only and not watering huge lush green golf courses.
What was that movie with Mel Gibson with all them dune buggy riders?

 

[turfman]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

Lake mead is drying up because of the expansion of Nevada and its subsequent water usage; not because al Gore said it was.

 

[QC]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

Not true^^^^. Yes, Nevada gets a big chunk of its water from Lake Mead, but the majority of Lake Mead's water use is kinda equal to what it gets from Lake Powell which like Mead is a big flippin' power plant. It is sent out of the plant at it's highest levels in the Summer (AC Load) and sent south to irrigate the Colorado River Valleys, CA's Imperial Valley, some water to Phoenix and some to L.A. Lake Mead's level has been relatively stable for a couple of years, and has had some short spurts of recovery. The fact is we have not had a banner water year in the Rockies for quite a while and are due. Today all snow levels are above normal, sooooooo if I pray to Al Gore and ask nicely for him to personally allow this very wet winter to continue we could very well be on the way to recovery. Here are the best links to watch for Mead:

Snow accumulation click the Snow button

Water level and planning stuff

Related Powell link

 

[gonefishie]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

According to that Reclamation website's historical water level record which began keeping track since 1935. It has been on the decline since its peak of about 1998. The differrent between 2000 and 2007 is almost one hundred feet.

 

[bekosh]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

hate to tell you this but global warming will cause a ice age

If that was the case, they would call it global cooling. Oh, that's right, they did.
It's the 1970's all over again. The enviro's yell "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!" then when the facts come out they pull a bait and switch. "Global Cooling? No! No! We ment Global WARMING!"
Now the panic du jur is "Climate Change" so that no matter what happens, they're covered.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

For less than a billion bucks, we could launch one or even more than one satellite with large mylar deflectors into a solarsynchronus orbit that would block out a small fraction of the suns energy when positioned to do so. Even if they only block 1% of the suns energy, that's enough to undo all of the warming that has occured over the last 100 years in less than a week. As a bonus, they could be directed in such ways as to sap energy from hurricanes, effectively killing them before they had a chance to do any harm.

Me thinks you haven't thought about this long enough. How about one big EZ-Up over lake Mead!!! Less evaporation that way.

 

[mscher]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

They are predicting it to dry up by 2021:

"http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080212/sc_livescience/lakemeadcoulddryupby2021;_ylt=ArxZwyohLX.WFYF2ypuYUAys0NUE"

This may be the wrong forum. Anyway - what measures are being taken to prevent this?

Well, one measure NOT being taken is a reality check by our loving bureacrats and truthful media

First, water NEVER goes away. It may go somewhere else and be in a different form (ice, water vapor), but it never goes away. If global warming is melting the polar icecaps, with minimal sea rise, where would the water be going? It seems like there would be more water elsewhere, not less.

Second, there is no drought on the Colorado river. The Rocky Mountain snow melts as it always has and flows down to the Gulf of California.

Where the "drought" comes in, this river has been raped, by being dammed up and nearly all water swilled off for agriculture, hydroelectric, cities and other uses. The West has lived and cried for years on the depth of the Rocky Mountain snowpack, long before trendy climate buzz-words.

Now that the demand is finally exceeding the "supply", someone/something must be to blame (certainly not ourselves). Global warming seems to be a popular choice these days for these same situations.

 

[oops!]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

where would the water be going?

there pumping it into the holes in the earth caused by gas/oil wells...big problem in canada.....especially alberta

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

It's all about the sacred cows. Stop eating dead cows and Lake Mead will fill back up.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

Rockies getting massive snows, (have old ski-nuts there...RECORD "fluff"..most Ski Patrol...and loving every sec as us here PNW..passes have been closed on the way out for 3-4 days at times..friends at Tahoe..CAN"T GET to the ski places at times...).. and that will somehow fill it up easy. Same Georgia...2-3 years no massive hurricane dumps. Do for a lot more to come.
Don't think so "tiny"...earth has been here a LOT longer than us, and "us" with less than 100 (giving it a long push here...more like 50) silly year records, think we now it all.
Doubt it very much.
The earth is a VERY fluid, dynamic thing we will never comprehend
And the dude who brought up "water", thats never goes away, is SPOT on. It DOES not "disappear". Its either frozen, liquid, or vapor. It will not go through the atmosphere (too heavy)..and soak the moon.
Plain and simple....thing is..."weather"....and good old Mom Nature..( I'm calling it sun flares, and intensity)....controls more than "al gore" will ever figure out.. (good thing he wasn't around in the 20's 'Dustball"..days.."we need to stop the farming!"...uuuggghhh)

 

[QC]

Re: No more Lake Mead?

The differrent between 2000 and 2007 is almost one hundred feet.

The only bummer is I'm afraid to enter the Grand Canyon. Otherwise there are more beaches and the Canyon walls are higher . . .