I never thought I'd write a narritive about a Lake, nor find a way to make a 30 minute video about one. Anyway, I'm glad I can share some insight and context as to whats going on with arguably one of the most important bodies of fresh water in the US. As always, comment what Modern Ruin you'd like us to cover next!
You did a great job, I thought it was all put together very well. I grew up around that area and spent a lot of time on and around Lake Mead as a kid and going on “vacation” in the 70’s just to drive over the dam! Lol
The first thing they need to do is shut down golf courses they use a lot of water we need to keep farmers that Grose are food they should be last on reducing water consumption no food people don't eat no people
Yes. Currently, you are right. Wait 18 more months, and Lake Mead shall not be used, because it'll be so low in water level. I do. We need no political crap. You have lives in your hands. So do something about it, but stop your inner whining.
Correction.....More than 2 decades of weather control! If clouds can be seeded then why doesn't it get provided where the rain is needed? Why do we witness tragedy in Kentucky flooding and drought in the west? This is because there is an agenda at play boys and girls. And I do not trust this channel either! And NO IT's not because of 'CLIMATE CHANGE!
Phoenix is not completely reliant on the Colorado river, there is another river chain Phoenix relies on to the east. It's reservoirs are doing fine, were planned and constructed long before Hoover was considered. Known as the Salt River Project. One of it's reservoirs was expanded back in the 1990's. We could loose the Colorado and still be just fine, there are many other sources of water Phoenix relies on. That are not as sexy as Lake Mead, but to get into it is something that would require a great deal more research. Not very entertaining for a youtube channel. Those of us who grew up in Phoenix are not worried about the water. We live in a desert, what do you expect. We are more fearful of the influx of Californians.
Out of curiosity, does the area around Phoenix support farms for produce and livestock or is it all supplied from other states? And what about electric? Does the supply come from hoover or elsewhere? I am simply curios of how independent a large population in the desert city like Phoenix actually is.
California Whois almost totally reliant on Mead isn’t trying to preserve any water. Residents of Vegas has been punished but California should be trying to preserve water too.
How many of all the Golf Courses have been shut down that use 400 million gallons a year? And pools lawns and all the over building that keeps going on? I would think the farm Lands should be first priority of the water use....
Yeah, I see people complaining that the farms are using too much water. Who the do they think is going to feed desert cities? The Midwest and south alone can't produce enough to sustain a population of 340 million year around. And the Midwest is seasonal at best.
You make great stuff you do a great job in giving very interesting and thoughtful background info. You always end up getting a history lesson on top of the video topic!
I like how people blame climate change for the Colorado water situation and don't consider the massive population increase in the southwest. Is it just assumed that this one river can grow along with the demand?
There are panels, called panel farms have panels out in the desert. But what they need to do is get the residents to put them on their roofs even if they pay for it. It would help.
That land out there was all desert. I’m not sure why They made it so big. All that land should be desert. When his house was getting covered in water he set it on fire and paddled away. Bless his heart he didn’t want to give up his home.
Comment sections for anything Lake Mead/Powell related are quite something. I do like Las Vegas' attitude towards water in just assuming it'll never drastically improve, thus putting policy into place that is far more sensible for the region. Going forward the 7 states in the Colorado River Compact need to act like the megadrought is permanent and come up with usages based on that rather than decades old, overly optimistic water flows. Agriculture in the region needs to be less water intensive and crops should no longer be exported overseas. The next couple of years are likely to be rough, given the "Triple La Nina" that seems to be happening. That's something that only has happened a couple times since 1950 and means another really dry winter is ahead, from what I understand.
We call it - The 'Precautionary Principle.' Which, when it comes to the matter of irreversible Global Warming is largely ignored by most humans in the world. The 'triple La Nina' may well become a permanent feature as Global Warming ensues.
Nova/Horizon had an episode called "Where did the Colorado go?" (1974) and put a lot of the problems on putting the arbitrary division point at what is now Lake Powell which looses *0.5 million* acre-feet though its *sandstone* sides. That is water about 2 million people could have used going "poof".
It hasn't been abandoned, we are just experiencing the La Nina cycle, means droughts in the South West of North America and Central America and heavy rainfalls and floods in East Asia. Learn the weather people.
So he was "Doing really well" until he contradicted "your" ideology. Typical thinking of the far left.... "We like you till you don"t think like us and help us fear monger"
I am in complete and total agreement with the idea that parts should be covered with photovoltaic grids to to generate electricity and prevent evaporation. Water has become too valuable...
Your optimism towards the end should be taken with tiniest grain of salt. The water problem in the West is only going to get worse. Every 800 years the SW goes through a wet and dry period. In the early to mid 20th century it was at the tail end of the wet period and now it's going through it's dry period. With the increase of population, mega farming and climate change something is going to give. If nothing is done then places like Arizona and Las Vegas are going to be dust bowls, reclaimed by the desert, the Hoover Dam could hit dead pool and stop working.
If all wastewater is going back to lake mead thats alot of water that wasn't before. Not only do you have the natural water but essentially all the water used is being put back.
No, not really. The spray from those fountains in Vegas allows a significant amount of water to evaporate, so only a portion of the water withdrawn from the lake makes it back. A lot of Lake Mead water sent to California (etc) is sent via open canals, and a lot of water evaporates there too. Hot climate + bright steady sunshine = lots of water loss by evaporation.
Las Vegas Water Authority took all the water from Lake Mead and should be a refill. Increased in population on the desert building huge casinos decreased water. Taking grasses in areas that have habitat. Animals need grass like dogs, birds, insects. More homes are build in the area that is a desert. Dividing the lakes to have mansions are unacceptable. Desalination from the ocean is a must to have. Our states need water to refill ponds, lakes and rivers, dispersing the salt into the ocean.
Part of the Alamo Canal is still used as a small reservoir, at the U S. - Mx. border, at Algodones, B.C.,, the nearby Morelos Dam diverts 10 percent of Colorado River which is allocated to Mx. into the Aliamentador Canal that flows through the Mexicali Valley. What water is not used is diverted back into The Colorado River Delta, which helps maintain a part of it's ecosystem.....yes! because as this video states - .all the man made environmental disasters concerning the Colorado River 'past and current' of the past 100+ years are U.S.. made
Love the videos but there's a new campaign for every video you make about Lake Mead you bring a trash bag with you and you start picking up the trash that you walk over when you're on the beach is that a deal or what
Funny how we all believe that Science is our savior, then we build shat in the desert where Science shows us man cannot live, no matter how many buckets of water we want to haul there, from some place else! 🤪
Fact is that Las Vegas is going to be the site of one of the largest natural disasters in living memory in 50 years. Property will be worthless and millions will need to be evacuated once the lake is down to the point where the dam is no longer able to generate electricity. Personally, I'm worried about whats going to happen to my home and will I be compensated for buying property once this happens. Or is the Government going to shit the bed like they've done before?
Who is responsible for being so stupid as to build/buy a home in an area naturally devoid of water known as a DESERT? If any of my state reps vote to bail you morons out they will lose my vote. And I am not alone on the no vote for bail stupid out. My adive, sell now. Our cave/cliff dwelling ancestors did that a few thousand years ago because they knew better.
@@krakenwoodfloorservicemcma5975 OK, LIKE THEY SAID ON INDEPANCE DAY, "IM BACK" CLIMATE MIGRATION WILL SOON BEGIN IN THE SOUTHWEST TO THE MIDDLE OF AMERICA, PLENTY OF WATER THERE
Well, actually it did cost a few bucks to build the damn which is surely paid for by now. Then there are operating cost. Now if you cut the salary people and the bone us money given them for sitting on their kesters while hourly people keep it running on the shoestring budget that is blouted by management salaries and bone us money we could be getting a 5% reduction in that utility bill.
feet this feet that , acre feet , above sea level this and that , total irrelevant to make all of this understandable why not just use deadpool as a 0 and show a graph at how many METERS you are away from that so that about 95% of the world population understands what you are talking about or if you have to , use yards [ close to a meter as it is ] for the not educated americans
Americans can't handle metric... It's far too simple for them... Even though the world's scientific community uses metric in all its measurements (SI units). A classic example of archaic imperial conservatism.
Thats some real Good Advise tell everyone go out and Play in a Garbage dump thats been under water since the 30s and Not to Mention the Unseen Dangers you will probably end up Stuck in the Mud... Real Good Advice NOT.....
I’m old enough to remember they used to call it global warming. Now it’s called “climate change” which requires a liberal arts degree but is just a fancy new name for what every 2nd grader knows as “seasons”
Climate change on planet earth is normal. The evidence is everywhere. There is a large river channel that is still visible, in what is now the Sahara desert, it existed up until around 5000 years ago. The massive amounts of oil in the middle east deserts were created from marine organisms. There are fossils of warm climate trees and plants found in Antarctica. One thing constant about planet earth is it is always changing. It is a little more than seasonal.
YES, YOUR IN A NEW SEASON OF GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE CATASPROPY, COAL IS DEAD, OIL IS ON THE WAY OUT, EUROPE NOW HAS THE HIGHEST TEMP IN HISTORY, SO GET WITH IT, MORE FLOODS, MORE DROUGHTS, ARE COMING
@@neojc128 YES, I AGREE, IT IS OVER 100 EVERYDAY SINCE JUNE IN FLORIDA NOW, ALL DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, EUROPE IS NOW BURNING OVER 104 DEGREES THERE, THE HIGHEST EVDR
Imagine living at the prosperous and absolutely untouched breathtaking beauty mouth of the “Colorado river” in Baja California.(Mexico) before the USA stole your water supply….. just to build a sodum and Gomorrah in the middle of the desert.
The water powered turbines themselves are the instruments that generate the electricity at the Hoover Dam power plant. If the turbines were to be powered by electricity, then where would that electricity come from? They can’t create electricity on their own. They need an external source of power in order to operate. The reason that the Hoover Dam power plant is considered to be a hydroelectric plant is because the turbines are powered by water. If the turbines were instead powered by another source, such as solar, wind, coal, or nuclear, then the power plant would instead become a solar, wind, coal, or nuclear power plant.
@@Blatsen i fully understand everything you say,what i was trying to say could the power from 1 water driven turbine generate enough electricity to power 1 or maybe more non water turbines
@@frmerrin2 no im not kidding im just curious to know if one water driven turbine could produce enough electricity to power more than 1 non water driven turbine
Not efficiently it couldn't, but I like the way you think. Have you ever seen how massive hydro turbines are? The present electric motor is as efficient as humans know how to build. An electric car has a very efficient motor but it still can't produce enough electric to run and charge the batteries at the same time.
You were doing really well up to timecode 27:25 - Then you express your doubts that the SW megadrought will become permanent... You obviously havn't read the memo (UN-IPCC) that Global Warming is now regarded as *irreversible* - couple to that the continuing expansion of Las Vegas (even with its stringent water conservation policies) and your doubts are a moot point. . Global Warming will prolong the SW megadrought, probably indefinitely. Moreover, as the cryosphere continues to retreat at an accelerated rate, further self-reinforcing feedbacks will further exacerbate GW and climatic change, with dry regions becoming more arrid and aquefers continuing to deplete. Any notions of piping in water from the Missouri and Mississippi river basins, aside from being a totally unfeasible and foolish remedial solution, will not eventuate as human civilisation will likely collapse long before such a scheme, if ever approved, reached fruition. . Les Vegas and one could include the major cities of the desert states are living on borrowed-time... And I envisage a time, where soon, any hiking survivor could sit in the cockpit of that B29...
Are they? I assume you are educated by right-wing media because I have a buddy that is and he said the same thing. Lake Powell doesn't supply a drop of utility water to California and it is in the same situation. As is almost all lakes in the southwest/ west. California does use a lot of water for farms but who else is going to feed the desert cities? You can't exactly have farms for produce and live stock without water. And the desert just doesn't have it to use. Something has to give somewhere. The Midwest can't produce enough to sustain 300 million people every day of the year.
So it looks like no water is making it to lake Mead if the lake can handle all of the Colorado river water for all those years. Why are they draining the lake on purpose? Are they trying to shut down the Hoover dam? I wonder how much China and Russia paid them to do this? Under Obama China purchased water rights to the great lakes. I wonder if someone sold them water rights to the Colorado river as well.
Draining the lake on purpose? The river still has to exist for all of the communities it serves down stream. The problem is the yearly outflow for the last couple of decades to sustain the river and utility use has exceeded the inflow from twenty five to fifty percent. The agreement when they built the dams was to never stop the natural flow of the river. The lakes were not built nor intended to replace, or do away with the Colorado river. I guess looking at it that way, you could also make the same assumption for every dam on the Ohio and Mississippi?
@@rchurch2769 you even admit they take out more then is going in. Hence them draining the lake on purpose. They could take less. We don't need all this soda in the stores or juices if it's killing the lakes and rivers. They need to quit taking so much. It has nothing to do with the dams and everything to do with big companies taking water from the river.
The Soul powers the heart.Meet God on His terms. "Ask Jesus/Yeshua to Forgive your sins, and come into your life from your heart while U still have breath!" Reject Hell! John 14:6-7 Revelation 1:18, reads, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I AM ALIVE! for evermore Amen; and have the Keys of hell and of death". Is He your Savior or your Judge?
@1RoomPlayhouseCom WELL, I THINK THEY TRIED BUT GAVE UP, THEY WERE GOING TO USE IT FOR WAR, BUT CHINA HAS LOTS OF CLOUDS ALL THE TIME, THEY USED CLOUD SEEDING TO GET RID OF DIRTY AIR FOR THE OLYMPICS, BUT NOW, DID YOU SEE THE MASSIVE FLOODING THEY HAD THIS WEEK, SAD, HOUSES WASHED AWAY Cloud seeding is not always for aesthetic “blue sky” purposes, there are also claims that it can mitigate the effects of global warming by directly cooling the planet down. The process does not change the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, but it does treat a symptom - heat. So seeding “would have to be performed continuously for hundreds of years until the climate system rebalanced itself,” according to Energy reporter James Conca in Forbes. It can be a good thing to artificially stimulate rainfall as some places need more rain than others, but are suffering from drought, such as in the US. However, cloud seeding requires the use of chemicals, some of which are potentially harmful to the natural environment, meaning plants which depend on the contaminated rain to produce food are affected. Also, if it is not well regulated, cloud seeding can have some extreme consequences. For example, when dry areas are not well-positioned to handle certain weather conditions, they may experience flooding.
