CLIMATE FINANCE

This is What Happens When You Irrigate a Desert.

The Southwest water crisis was 85 years in the making.

(Image courtesy of the U.S. Drought Monitor)

The past few days have seen alarm bells ring about the low level of Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir in the United States and powers the turbines of the Hoover Dam.

The lake supplies drinking and irrigation water, along with providing electricity to a large portion of the American Southwest. All of these benefits are at risk of diminished capacity.

How bad is it?

It’s bad enough that states are already expecting the federal government to curtail water usage for 2022, and probably beyond.

From Gizmodo,

With that projected shortage in mind, officials are already planning to take the unprecedented step of declaring a Level 1 Shortage Condition for 2022 for Lake Mead in August — the month when operating conditions are typically set for the following year.

The declaration will mean that the surrounding states will be forced to resort to water-saving measures that Tom Buschatzke, Arizona’s Department of Water Resources Director, told CNN were likely to be “painful.”