Lake Mead in Southwestern USA could dry up by 2021

Lake Mead

There is a 50% probability that Lake Mead, a major source of water for millions in Southwestern USA, will dry up by 2021. Human demand, natural forces such as evaporation, and human-induced climate change are creating a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River system that includes Lake Mead and Lake Powell. This amount of water can supply roughly 8 million people.

“We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us,” says marine research physicist and study coauthor Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego. “Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest.”

Source: Lake Mead could dry up by 2021 – Mongabay

Date: 12 February 2008