Lake Mead sinks to record lows (Phoenix, Bullhead City: 2015, homes, landscaping)

[JGMotorsport64]

Lake Mead sinks to record low


What do you guys think of this? They're calling for Arizona's cuts (which are the most severe) if it doesn't return by January.

[froglipz]

Too many people using what little water was there, never a good outcome long term.

[BIG CATS]

Too many people moving here, thinking they can keep their southern/northern/northwestern/northeastern water habits (read: wasteful). These ignorant people are gonna rape and pillage the water supply here w/o a care in the world. Wasting water drives me nuts!

IF YOU MOVE TO ARIZONA, LEAVE YOUR NON-NATIVE PLANTS BEHIND, AND QUIT WASTING WATER. WE'RE LIVING ON BORROWED TIME HERE. LETS NOT ACCELERATE IT!

[FloppyRunner]

Definitely worries me. I sigh to myself everytime I drive past man made lakes (and I don't mean the dammed kind), extravagant lush oasis-style luxury resorts, etc...

Sometimes I don't even think most of the drones even know where their water comes from.

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by FloppyRunner

Definitely worries me. I sigh to myself everytime I drive past man made lakes (and I don't mean the dammed kind), extravagant lush oasis-style luxury resorts, etc...

Sometimes I don't even think most of the drones even know where their water comes from.

Most of the man made lakes here in the valley are filled with treated waste water and are soaking back in to the ground to recharge aquifers, at least the ones I can think of are.

[MotleyCrew]

Must developers install ridiculously large and lavish water features in their development? Do you really need a lawn....or a pool? Too late I fear.

[JGMotorsport64]

I think Phoenix much like the rest of the desert SW has reached a breaking point. If we get cut it will send a message to investment that AZs days are numbered and will ruin the recovery were experiencing.

If we are going to grow, and I see us growing til we can't, we need to be focusing on infill and higher density development. Not everybody can have a lawn and a pool anymore, the mirage is being lifted.

The Morrison Institute at ASU published a 19 page report on Phoenixs sustainability, while most of it was feel good, the reality is unless we can get some more rain we're going to be making some very difficult decisions soon. They propose that Phoenix is no less sustainable than any other large city, but they aren't megapolis' in the desert.

[stevek64]

Old news. The lake level was predicted to reach this level for many months now/covered in a bunch of other threads recently.

As for too many people moving here causing the water "shortage"? False! Actually quite the opposite. And quite the irony. Probably an eye opener for many:

Arizona water outlook not as dire as neighboring California - ABC15 Arizona

"In fact, despite growing from 1.1 million residents in 1957 to more than 6.5 million today, the state uses essentially the same amount of water."

Because:

"Arizona uses about 7 million acre feet of water a year, 70 percent of that for agricultural use, 22 percent for municipal use and the rest for industrial consumption. The state has nearly 9 million acre feet of water stored underground."

Former farm land becomes subdivisions/where people live and net-net, water saved.

Farmer's will take the brunt of this because that's where the big savings will be.

"The Arizona cuts would be roughly enough to supply 600,000 homes, but the cuts would only affect farmers."

If the drought continues for decades, desalination from the ocean/possibly the Sea of Cortex, Mex is one solution for AZ. Another option is what Orange County CA is doing with RO/treating waste water back into drinking water.

From toilet to tap: Getting a taste for drinking recycled waste water - CNN.com

And water shortages have been a long time predicted in other states and worldwide, way beyond the current media's fixation on the southwest for years now so this issue goes way beyond AZ/CA/NV:

U.S. water supplies drying up - US news - Environment | NBC News

AZ has some positive things going for it like a decent water bank system going/storing water underground for the future, using treated waste water for commercial use/landscaping, natural ground water sources, natural sources of water like the Salt River where the valley gets a pretty good chunk of its water from, etc.

I believe in doing my small part in saving water but beyond that, relax...the sky isn't falling.

[jamies]

In Mohave county we have miles and miles of irrigated crop land - and the City of Bullhead City has dozens of acres of green grass soccer fields.

There is no money to fix the roads - but we can sure water the soccer fields all summer in the middle of the desert when it's 119 degrees in the shade.

Grow crops in freaking Kansas - and play soccer in Miami!

[FloppyRunner]

Originally Posted by stevek64

Old news. The lake level was predicted to reach this level for many months now/covered in a bunch of other threads recently.

As for too many people moving here causing the water "shortage"? False! Actually quite the opposite. And quite the irony. Probably an eye opener for many:

Arizona water outlook not as dire as neighboring California - ABC15 Arizona

"In fact, despite growing from 1.1 million residents in 1957 to more than 6.5 million today, the state uses essentially the same amount of water."

Because:

"Arizona uses about 7 million acre feet of water a year, 70 percent of that for agricultural use, 22 percent for municipal use and the rest for industrial consumption. The state has nearly 9 million acre feet of water stored underground."

Former farm land becomes subdivisions/where people live and net-net, water saved.

Farmer's will take the brunt of this because that's where the big savings will be.

"The Arizona cuts would be roughly enough to supply 600,000 homes, but the cuts would only affect farmers."

If the drought continues for decades, desalination from the ocean/possibly the Sea of Cortex, Mex is one solution for AZ. Another option is what Orange County CA is doing with RO/treating waste water back into drinking water.

From toilet to tap: Getting a taste for drinking recycled waste water - CNN.com

And water shortages have been a long time predicted in other states and worldwide, way beyond the current media's fixation on the southwest for years now so this issue goes way beyond AZ/CA/NV:

U.S. water supplies drying up - US news - Environment | NBC News

AZ has some positive things going for it like a decent water bank system going/storing water underground for the future, using treated waste water for commercial use/landscaping, natural ground water sources, natural sources of water like the Salt River where the valley gets a pretty good chunk of its water from, etc.

I believe in doing my small part in saving water but beyond that, relax...the sky isn't falling.

I definitely agree that the sky isn't falling for us yet, but I wish people would realize that it's only a matter of time unless we change our habits. Arizona HAS done a better job of preparing than California, but it'll only delay the inevitable if the drought continues, and if I understand correctly most signs point to that there's no end in sight.

Farmers taking cuts first may sounds good to the rest of us, but they're suffering will surely be felt at least to some extent by the rest of us economically...