Western U.S. to face major water shortages even without climate change
The AP had an article on Friday about the impending water shortages in the Western United States [link may expire]. The region will face shortages as a result of a changing climate as well as exceedingly dumb planning that led to inefficient development and failed to account for the fact that the 1900’s were an above average century for wetness on the whole.
The result was a massive population boom in the Western US that was built on inefficient water use from the Colorado River based on the assumption that the river’s flow would not decrease and population growth would not overwhelm it. Of course, none of these assumptions proved true.
One study predicts that Lake Mead (behind Hoover Dam) could run dry by 2021 and “several models by different scientists have made predictions about the future flow of the Colorado, all of which forecast less water.” Even without climate change, the water in the Colorado River would be insufficient to meet anticipated demands.
All of this will require different “allocations, use, conservation, dams and legal obligations.” A loss of Rocky Mountain snow packs or drought from climate change will only exacerbate this inevitable crisis.
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