From Henderson Nevada
Along the shores of
Lake Meade to the Hoover Dam
And return to
Henderson
Distance traveled: 44
miles
There
was a package awaiting me when I arrived at Dan and Susanne’s place, it was the
new Garmin that Mel had promised to have delivered to me. So today I tackled getting to know my new Garmin, checking how it works etc. I
read all the instructions and played with programming and discovered that it works
pretty much identically to the old one.
After
printing the UPS shipping label I packed up the old Garmin in the delivery box
and located the nearest UPS office for return shipment. Once that was done it was time to get on the
sightseeing road. On today’s list was:
see Lake Mead and Hoover dam.
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| Lake Mead - from 33 hole overlook |
The
sightseeing drive along Lakeshore Road going south towards Hoover Dam was very
picturesque. My first glimpse of Lake
Mead did not prepare me for the scope and size of this lake as these lookout
points only had a view to small inlets.
It was not until I was a Boulder beach that I started to get an
understanding of how huge this Lake is.
However, very worrisome is that fact that it is very obvious that the
water levels are down significantly!
Water levels
in Lake Mead are way down:
How much
has the water level dropped? - Lake Mead has dropped by more than 100 feet.
Why this
is happening? - Drought / global warming
/ In an "average" year, the amount of water
flowing out of Lake Mead exceeds the amount of water flowing into Lake Mead.
At what
rate? - It's drying up faster than water managers expected / Study gives 50-50 odds Lake Mead will dry
up by 2021 / a 50 percent chance that reservoir levels will fall
low enough to shut down power generation at Hoover Dam by 2017,
What are
the ramifications? - Famiglietti
said. "I think it says that this region is in trouble. I think it says
that we need to really rethink our water use in this region, our demand in this
region because it is far outstripping the supply." / Should the lake keep dropping… it eventually will shut
down one of the two intakes the Southern Nevada Water Authority uses to draw
about 90 percent of the Las Vegas Valley’s water supply. / Davis
notes that, “without Lake Mead, there would be no Las Vegas. / In
2016, Lake Mead is projected to drop below 1,075 feet,
which will reduce the amount of water going to Arizona and Nevada. At that
time, you can be sure water rationing will be on the cards. / Without
the mighty Colorado many of us wouldn’t eat or drink. But misuse of the water
has led to severe shortages,
Are there
solutions? - "We
know about solutions that must be scaled up across our arid lands — water
recycling, water banking, water pricing," Wiltshire said. "But
politics is the problem. What is lacking is the political will, and the drive
toward innovation, that will allow us to make the transition to a water-sustainable
society." / Many Americans tend to view water as a boundless
resource to do with as they please. Their attitude to the precious liquid is a
little like the way they view guns. Remove their right to showers and green
lawns and you mess with their very freedoms. / As we drive straight into this water crisis, it’s
clear that we need better policies in place that help us to plan responsibly
for future generations. Otherwise we’re looking at dried up river basins, and a
very different American West than the one we know today.
Here are
some articles that will let you make your own conclusions:
|
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| Lake Mead from Lake View Overlook |
From
the hilltop on the road toward the Hoover Dam there is an amazing view of Lake
Mead. The marina is just a tiny spec on
that vast area of water.
I
drove over the Dam to the Arizona side and found a parking spot and then walked
the dam from south to north and then back again, taking in the enormity of this
structure.
 |
| view from Hoover Dam toward Lake Mead |
To the east is the expanse of Lake Mead, a reservoir stretching for miles, water in the desert! To the west the Colorado River
rushes toward the equally water starved desert of California Las
Vegas wants this water! The Californian’s want this water!
 |
| View from the Hoover Dam to the Colorado River flowing west |
But if they empty the lake, then they will
be back to having only the amount of water flowing annually from the
river. They can’t keep taking more out
of the river than is put in by natural events upstream. What is the logic of draining Lake Mead to
feed their greed for water and more water?
Where will it end? When the Lake
is dry what will they do then? The
question becomes why are they growing unsustainable crops in a desert? Where is the logic in that?
Should they not be growing crops that need
less water resources? Come to think of
it, where is the logic of having such a huge population of water wasteful human
living in a desert and all the time clamoring for “more water”. Why is there not more thought given to the
“upriver” communities that are being robbed of their water to feed the needs of
down river and communities at the end of the rivers path? Who in their right mind designed this
megalopolis in the desert and what did they imagine would be the future for the
population here? Water awareness is
growing, but is it growing fast enough to keep pace with the declining supply
in the face of ever greater demand, especially in times of drought / climate
changes?
On
the drive back to Henderson along Hwy 93 I got to see the view to Lake Mead from Bolder
City, the city that grew as a result of the construction of the dam. I also stopped at the UPS store to send off
the old Garmin, packing slip processed by the helpful clerk and so all was accomplished
without any hitches.
Back
at Susanne’s we all sat down for a family style meal that she had
prepared. The Mexican style chicken
casserole was really delicious and conversation flowed as Susanne, Dan, Lisa,
Norman and I shared our day’s experiences.
After
dinner I joined Susanne for a “Bountiful Basket” (http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/) pick up. By now we were a little bit late for the visit
with Susanne’s friend Betty. We knocked
and waited but no answer at the door. We
thought maybe she had gone to bed. Later
we got phone call she was in hot tub and did not hear the door. By that time we were already all the way back
across town, almost home.
We
stopped to get some ice cream and then Dan drove us to an overlook to see the
night sky and the city lights of Las Vegas at night, quite the sight! Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with
me at the time.
By
the time we got back to the house it was late, actually past my normal bed
time, so after a round of goodnights it was time to tuck myself into bed for
some shut eye.
Renate Dundys Marrello
2014 – 08 – 15
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