The #ColoradoRiver is shrinking due to #ClimateChange, which means the nation's 2 largest #reservoirs, #LakeMead & #LakePowell, created by #dams, have reached record low levels in recent years amid a #megadrought spanning >2 decades. If #water levels fall much lower, they could lose the ability to generate #hydropower within the massive dams that hold them back, or even lose the ability to pass water downstream.
Two Men Indicted For Damaging Rock Formations At National Recreation Area In Nevada
"...A federal grand jury indicted two Henderson men for allegedly damaging ancient rock formations at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.... If convicted, the defendants each face up to ten years imprisonment."
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nv/pr/two-men-indicted-damaging-rock-formations-national-recreation-area-nevada #LakeMead #vandalism #tourons #NPS
Great hike this morning out at Lake Mead with my better half. #Photography #LasVegas #LakeMead
For #Mondog here's goofbutt checking out Painter's Cove at Lake Mead a few years ago.
National Park Service needs help identifying public land vandals at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. If you can help ID these clowns please contact the Park at 702-293-8990. #Nevada #LasVegas #LakeMead #HooverDam #Boulder #Desert #Hiking #Outdoors #Camping #Boat #Boating https://www.npr.org/2024/04/16/1245062311/lake-mead-rock-formations-destroyed
"Earlier this month, a #video posted to #SocialMedia captured two men destroying ancient #rock formations at #LakeMead National Recreation Area in #Nevada. National park rangers are asking for the public’s help in identifying the visitors, who could face federal charges for vandalizing protected land."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/04/15/lake-mead-video-rocks-destroyed/
Link to Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qM2V-g7KX/v
"Law enforcement park rangers at Lake Mead National Recreation Area are seeking information from the public to help identify suspects involved in a vandalism incident at the Redstone Dunes Trail area.
In a video posted to social media that was reportedly recorded on the evening of Sunday, April 7, 2024, two adult males are seen toppling natural rock formations from the top of a cliff.
Information from visitors is very helpful to investigators. Law enforcement park rangers are asking the public for help. If you were on the Redstone Dunes Trail on the evening of Sunday, April 7, 2024"
"Earlier this month, a #video posted to #SocialMedia captured two men destroying ancient #rock formations at #LakeMead National Recreation Area in #Nevada. National park rangers are asking for the public’s help in identifying the visitors, who could face federal charges for vandalizing protected land."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/04/15/lake-mead-video-rocks-destroyed/
@slcw The #LakeMead vandals bring up the question “Is there a #DeplorableGene 
?”
If you're ever wondering why we can't have nice things, this is the reason. Two arrogant, thoughtless men figured it would be hilarious if they went to the #LakeMead National Recreation Area, with breathtaking, natural rock formations that took billions of years to form, and destroyed it. Oh, and they brought their families to watch! Wow, what a fun time they must have had. If you know anything about these SOBs, call 888-653-0009 or email nps_isb@nps.gov
https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article287672140.html
A cool site to visualize the upper Colorado River Basin snow pack levels. You can see historical averages and ranges, and plot any year's data.
It is easy to see what a knock out year the winter of 2023 was. This winter is only just scraping into the average range.
The world’s largest #lakes are shrinking dramatically and scientists say they have figured out why
These significant bodies of water include the Colorado River’s #LakeMead, which has receded sharply amid a #megadrought and decades of #overuse.
By Laura Paddison, CNN
Published May 18, 2023 4:29 PM EDT
The shrinking of many lakes has been well documented, but the extent of change – and the reasons behind it – have been less thoroughly examined, said Fangfang Yao, the study’s lead author and a visiting scholar at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The researchers used satellite measurements of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs, which together represent 95% of Earth’s total lake water storage.
Examining more than 250,000 satellite images spanning from 1992 to 2020, along with climate models, they were able to reconstruct the history of the lakes going back decades.
The results were “staggering,” the report authors said.
They found that 53% of the lakes and reservoirs had lost significant amounts of water, with a net decline of around 22 billion metric tons a year – an amount the report authors compared to the volume of 17 Lake Meads.
More than half of the net loss of water volume in natural lakes can be attributed to human activities and climate change, the report found.
The report found losses in lake water storage everywhere, including in the humid #tropics and the cold Arctic. This suggests “drying trends worldwide are more extensive than previously thought,” Yao said.
Different lakes were affected by different drivers.
#Unsustainable water consumption is the predominant reason behind the shriveling of the #AralSea in Uzbekistan and California’s #SaltonSea, while changes in rainfall and runoff have driven the decline of the #GreatSaltLake, the report found.
In the #Arctic, lakes have been shrinking due to a combination of changes in temperature, precipitation, evaporation and runoff.
“Many of the human and climate change footprints on lake water losses were previously unknown,” Yao said, “such as the desiccations of #LakeGoodEZareh in Afghanistan and #LakeMarChiquita in Argentina."
#WaterIsLife #WaterWars #Consumption #ClimateCrisis
Read more:
https://www.accuweather.com/en/climate/worlds-largest-lakes-see-sharp-declines/1528645
Everytime someone posts photos of their golf trip from Arizona or Nevada I wonder what level of ignorant they are of a 1000 year drought ravaging the southwest. Either that or they don't care. Very often they're smug hockey media covering the Golden Knights or Coyotes.
#NHL #ClimateChange #Drought #LakeMead #Nature #Environment #Water
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/us/arizona-water-rio-verde-scottsdale.html
As the result of a decades-long “megadrought” across the region, Lake Mead’s water level has dropped around 170 feet since 2000, causing its shoreline to recede dramatically and exposing huge swaths of dry lakebed.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/us/lake-mead-drought-shoreline-discoveries-climate-ctpr/index.html
#climate #lakemead
