Research indicates a pretty good likelihood that either or both Lake Mead and Lake Powell could go all but dry within 13 years. This is a stunning possibility to ponder given the immense physical sizes of these man-made bodies of water created by dams across the Colorado River. I have been to Lake Powell twice and it is enormous and vast. I have crossed the Hoover Dam bridge on five occasions and also seen Lake Mead from other vantage points and it, too, is a vast body of water surrounded by arid mountains and desert like Lake Powell. For these lakes to go dry will require a significant change in winter moisture pattern in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This current winter has seen an exceptional amount of snow accumulate in the mountains that drain into these lakes, so lake levels may actually rise this spring. But, in addition to moisture in the mountains, another critical factor is the continued population growth and extension of agricultural operations in the basin and region that relies on water from these two reservoirs. The report earlier this week of the massive population growth anticipated over the coming decades is alarming, as a good bit of this growth will be in Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada -- all states that are strongly reliant on water from the Colorado River basin. Still, its difficult these two vast bodies of water all but disappearing.*****
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