About 40 million people get water from the Colorado. Studies show it's drying up.

About 40 million people get water from the Colorado River. Studies show it's drying up.

Ian JamesThe Republic | azcentral.com


Feb 22, 2020
Feb

PHOENIX – Scientists have documented how climate change is sapping the Colorado River, and new research shows the river is so sensitive to warming that it could lose about one-fourth of its flow by 2050 as temperatures continue to climb.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey found that the loss of snowpack due to higher temperatures plays a major role in driving the trend of the river’s dwindling flow. They estimated that warmer temperatures were behind about half of the 16% decline in the river’s flow during the stretch of drought years from 2000-2017, a drop that has forced Western states to adopt plans to boost the Colorado’s water-starved reservoirs.

Without changes in precipitation, the researchers said, for each additional 1.8 degrees of warming, the Colorado River’s average flow is likely to drop by about 9%.

The USGS scientists considered two scenarios of climate change. In one, warmer temperatures by 2050 would reduce the amount of water flowing in the river by 14-26%. In the other scenario, warming would take away 19-31% of the river’s flow.


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“Either of the scenarios leads to a substantial decrease in flow,” said Chris Milly, a senior research scientist with USGS. “And the scenario with higher greenhouse-gas concentrations decreases the flow more than the scenario with lower greenhouse gas concentrations.”



https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ay/4842148002/

Lake Mead is at 43% capacity.


Many states on the West Coast depend on that water and our farmers.

MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS IN ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA ALONE!

Massive legal and illegal immigration year after year after year is destroying our country.

Millions of people, who have no right to be here are using up our water, our land, our resources. We have no housing for ourselves.

Foreigners coming here buying up our property and driving up costs and our rents.

We need to END all immigration and deport 40 million that do not belong here.

They are adding massive tons of trash into our landfills and sewage systems. They are contributing to the crime, overcrowded schools, healthcare system, government benefits, overcrowded jails, prisons, court systems and overcrowded freeway systems.

This has got to stop and be reversed to preserve our country, our peace and our prosperity.

New Lake Mead pumping station nearing completion outside of Las Vegas

2 days ago

BOULDER CITY (FOX5) -- The $1.4 billion dollar Low Lake Level Pumping station at Lake Mead that began construction in 2015 is almost finished.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is set to begin testing the pumps this week. The project includes 34 pumps that need to be tested individually to ensure they’re working properly.


“At this point in the project, we are just about nearing completion," Spokesperson for Southern Nevada Water Authority Bronson Mack said Thursday. "The crew here is getting ready to start testing these pumps."


Earlier this month, a massive surge tank made a 500 mile journey to Lake Mead and was set in place shortly after its arrival.


“The surge tank that was delivered here recently has been set in place. It has been pressure tested and it is now ready to accompany the pump test that are going to occur over the next week or so,” Mack said.


The project started in 2015 in response to declining water levels at Lake Mead which have fallen 130 feet since the year 2000.


The Low Lake Level Pumping Station will make sure the water authority will be able to draw water from the lake even if water levels continue to drop.


“When you consider the investment that southern Nevada has made of 1.4 billion dollars just to ensure that we can have access to our existing water supply, this project is of paramount importance for the future of southern Nevada going forward,” Mack said.


Project completion is scheduled for April 2020.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...as/ar-BB10dDMR

Do the high school math on Lake Mead water level projections

• By R.B. PROVENCHER | Guest columnist
• Jan 24, 2020

Remember in high school algebra class getting a problem to solve on how long it will take to drain a bathtub after the plug is pulled and the faucet is on?


That’s the perfect description of what is happening with Lake Mead, and it’s relatively easy to calculate when the water will run out based on current drawdown rates and all other variables remaining the same.


The Colorado River basin is experiencing historically low annual snow load contributions, and it is anticipated that this condition will not get better any time soon.



https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...size=300%2C305



R.B. Provencher



Compounding this factor is the continued significant development in housing and farming in Arizona, southern Nevada and southern California that requires more and more water from surface and groundwater sources. This analysis looks at surface water only; a future article will analyze groundwater impacts.


Lake Mead is currently at about a third fullwith about 10.4 million-acre feet out of 26 MaF (1,226 feet above sea level) when full.


It was last full in 1983 and is currently down to about 1,070 feet.


Major water restrictions will be imposed when it drops below 995 feet; Hoover hydro plant intakes lose suction at 950 feet; and Las Vegas’s water intake loses suction at 860 feet.

Based on historical inflows and extractions since 1983, Lake Mead levels continue to drop on average of 400,000 acre-feet per year. Doing the simple math shows that major water restrictions will be imposed in nine years (995-foot level); Hoover loses suction in 13 years (950-foot level) and Vegas loses its water supply in 19 years (860-foot level).


Although conservation is encouraged and continues to help, it prolongs the eventual drawdown by a small amount. It is a drop in the bucket compared to the massive water demands of residential and agricultural development that continues uncontrolled in Las Vegas and Arizona.


Las Vegas recently spent over a billion dollars to lower the “bathtub drain” and extract every drop from Lake Mead. This expenditure did absolutely nothing to help solve the problem. Uncontrolled and unmonitored use of surface and groundwater in Arizona will only accelerate the time it takes to drain the Lake. Too many are resting on 2019 being a “good” snow year. Others say the 7 percent water allotment cut in 2019 is about equal to what’s been conserved and that’s a good thing. This view provides a false sense of security, spurring continued inaction that doesn’t solve the problem.


We have the engineering know-how to take bold action now to provide water to these areas for many years to come. It will take commitment, human ingenuity and innovation, and a lot of money to make it happen, but what’s the alternative? Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles are not going anywhere, continue to grow and need water to survive.


We need to take bold action now to mitigate the above scenario. Just do the math.



https://www.postregister.com/opinion...0c69bf968.html

MILLIONS of illegal aliens and their anchor babies taking over our housing, using up our water resources.

We are adding MILLIONS of refugees, TPS, asylum liars, and passing out our Green Cards, Visas, and Citizenship like a Pez Dispenser for decades! Shut these programs down.

Our government is DUMPING entire cities from around the world in this country.

Now there are 5-6 generations of these illegal aliens, who have been pouring over our border for decades, and their massive LARGE families full of their offspring who continue to overbreed with NO consideration of the damage they do to our country.

This is not only a climate change issue, this is a MASSIVE immigration issue dumping millions upon millions of foreigners on our backs and into our communities. Urban sprawl, massive traffic congestion, and no end in sight!

Deport 40 million and shut off all immigration. It is imperative to the future of our country to address this issue.

It seems like they could divert the headwaters of the Wind R/Snake R. and Missouri R. systems and gradually build this back up. There was some opportunity to send in public comment regarding this a few years back and I suggested this. Got some reply that they had already considered this----and to shut up! I don't know who runs these programs. They always seem to have some smug, arrogant confidence of their own opinions. We have that locally where a new cadre of urban planners are rezoning our city for MUCH higher density, and would the public just shut the h--- up about it?

A lot of flooding in Nebraska and up North.

But NO reserviors are being built to capture the snow melt and pipe the water to the Colorado River.

We can build oil pipelines but no water pipelines!

HEY TRUMP, WHERE ARE THOSE SHOVEL READY JOBS????

THE SWAMP TO BUSY SPENDING TRILLIONS OF OUR DOLLARS ON NEVER ENDING WARS, FOREIGN AID, AND REBUILD OTHER COUNTRIES! CUT THEM ALL OFF!

How our water goes from the toilet to the tap

https://media.lasvegassun.com/media/...b3328710e01e7b

STEVE MARCUS

Treated wastewater from the North Las Vegas Water Reclamation Facility flows down the Sloan channel near Toiyabe Street and East Carey Avenue on Thursday, June 23, 2011, in Las Vegas.

By Ian Whitaker
Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 | 2 a.m.

https://media.lasvegassun.com/media/...5aad58f36db2ce

SAM MORRIS

Treated wastewater from the Clark County Water Reclamation plant goes to the Las Vegas Wash and eventually to Lake Mead.


https://media.lasvegassun.com/media/...5aad58f36db2ce

CHRIS MORRIS

Most of us don’t think about what happens when we flush the toilet. But the same water that swirls in the bowl, after being treated, ends up in our taps. It’s a disgusting thought, but the system helps fill Lake Mead and quench Las Vegas’ thirst.



Every day, about 100 million gallons of raw sewage is treated by the Clark County Water Reclamation District, which cleans sewage water for unincorporated Southern Nevada. This district has seven facilities and serves rural communities as well as a vast swath of the valley, including the Strip.

Roughly 90 million gallons of reclaimed water is released daily into the Las Vegas Wash, replenishing Lake Mead with billions of gallons every year. In exchange, we are allowed to take that much more water out of the lake, over and above our preset allotment.

Other treatment plants in the valley also reclaim water, but the bulk of the effort starts at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and the appropriately named Sludgemore Avenue. It’s the site of the Flamingo Water Resource Center, a Disneyland-sized facility on the eastern edge of the valley and Nevada’s largest wastewater treatment plant.

There, in a six-hour process involving biology and technology, sewage is purified of pollutants and made ready to be put back into Lake Mead, where it will be stored and pumped back out for final treatment before entering our faucets.

1. Sewers
Everything that’s flushed from homes and businesses ends up in the reclamation district’s 2,000-mile sewer pipe network that delivers contents to nearby treatment facilities. Most of the journey is sloped downhill, with occasional “lift stations” that pump the sewage up to higher pipes, where gravity again takes over.

2. Pre-treatment sifting
At this point, the sewage looks more like dirty water than the brown sludge we see in cartoons and movies. Referred to as influent, incoming sewage passes through screens that trap trash. A mechanical rake removes the trash, which is dried and taken to the Apex Landfill.

3. Primary treatment
The raw sewage flows into large underground tanks, where heavy solids settle and form sludge, while scum — primarily grease and oil — floats to the top. Rotating metal arms skim surface scum into troughs that are vacuumed out weekly and scrape bottom sludge into hoppers that lead to underground pits, where it is pumped out and dried in a later process.

4. Aeration
Activated sludge, a slurry of recycled liquid with a large number of living organisms, is blended into the wastewater. The microorganisms feed on organic contaminants in the wastewater and help remove phosphorus that can damage the environment and hurt wildlife. Compressed air is injected into the water to supply the oxygen needed to convert ammonia from urine into nitrogen gas, which dissipates into the atmosphere.

5. Secondary treatment
The wastewater is piped into large tanks, where the remaining activated sludge sinks to the bottom. Half of the sludge is pumped back to be used again, while the other half is mixed with polymer and sludge from primary treatment. That mixture is dried in centrifuges to form sludge cakes — dark, crumbly substances that landfills use to decompose trash faster.

6. Filtration
The water is filtered through sand and anthracite to remove tiny solids and most of the remaining phosphorus, which fuels destructive algae blooms that can poison and kill wildlife in lakes.

7. Disinfection
Because viruses and bacteria still may lurk in the wastewater, it is run through an underground chamber where ultraviolet lamps neutralize any remaining pathogens by rearranging their DNA and preventing them from multiplying. This allows wastewater workers to clean the water without having to introduce chemicals such as chlorine.

8. Effluent
Considered fully treated and ready for reuse, most of the reclaimed water, called effluent, is released into the Las Vegas Wash. A portion is diverted to Wetlands Park, golf courses, parks and businesses. Along the 10-mile journey to Lake Mead, water from the Flamingo center mixes with water from treatment plants operated by Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

9. Back to the tapThe Southern Nevada Water Authority pulls the water out of Lake Mead to serve the valley’s 2 million residents and 40 million annual visitors.

Water officials further treat the water — as they do run-off and other piped-in water — to bring it to safe-drinking standards.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/au...es-toilet-tap/

Lake is at 43% Capacity. Flushing the toilet will not fill the lake back up. At least they are recycling.

Let's add millions more foreigners to Vegas, overbreeding in poverty, to flush toilets and dump back in the lake. Illegals leaving California and the whole family follows them there.

Prices go up, water restrictions in place, water bill goes up. Now Vegas is just as bad as California.

What happens when the lake is down to 25%??? You only get to shower once a month...LOL.

72
California water: Desalination projects move forward with new state funding

https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-conte...30-1.jpg?w=552

(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File)

In this Sept. 4, 2015 photo is the Carlsbad, Calif. desalination plant. America’s largest seawater desalination plant, the $1 billion facility produces 50 million gallons of drinking water for the San Diego area each day, but at a cost double the price of other sources.

By PAUL ROGERS | progers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 29, 2018 at 1:27 p.m. | UPDATED: January 30, 2018 at 2:47 p.m.


California water officials have approved $34.4 million in grants to eight desalination projects across the state, including one in the East Bay city of Antioch, as part of an effort to boost the water supply in the wake of the state’s historic, five-year drought.

The money comes from Proposition 1, a water bond passed by state voters in November 2014 during the depths of the drought, and it highlights a new trend in purifying salty water for human consumption: only one of the projects is dependent on the ocean.

Instead, six of the winning proposals are for brackish desalination and one is for research at the University of Southern California. In brackish desalination, salty water from a river, bay or underground aquifer is filtered for drinking, rather than taking ocean water, which is often up to three times saltier and more expensive to purify.

“Desalination can play an important role in California’s water future,” said Richard Mills, water recycling and desalination chief for the state Department of Water Resources, which chose the grant winners from 30 applicants.

“But we want to be protective of the environment and provide water at reasonable cost,” he said.

“That’s been the challenge for desalination, in terms of why we can’t just build a lot of plants anywhere.”

Ocean desalination costs between $2,000 and $2,500 an acre-foot, Mills noted. Brackish desalination can range from $1,000 to $2,000. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, or roughly the amount of water a family of five uses in a year.

Water experts say it’s not surprising that the state is throwing more money behind projects that don’t rely on seawater.

“More communities are looking at brackish desal because it’s less expensive, it can have fewer environmental impacts and it isn’t limited to coastal communities,” said Heather Cooley, water program director for the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Oakland.

Three projects were awarded $10 million each to help with construction. Among them is the Antioch Brackish Water Desalination Project, which is estimated to cost $62.2 million. The city already takes water from the San Joaquin River on the Antioch waterfront as it is flowing from the Delta into San Francisco Bay and uses it as part of the water supply for 110,000 people. But in the summer and fall months, when less Sierra snow is melting and less freshwater is flowing into the Delta, the water becomes too salty to drink.

Under the plan, the city would build a desalination facility at its existing water treatment plant to generate 6 million gallons a day of freshwater. The 2 million gallons of brine left over each day would be sent through a new 4-mile-long pipeline to the Diablo Wastewater Treatment Plant near Pittsburg, where it would be blended with treated sewage that already is pumped back into the bay.

The other projects that received $10 million each are the Doheny Ocean Desalination Plant in Orange County, which would drill slant wells under the ocean floor at Dana Point and is estimated to cost $110 million, and the North Pleasant Valley Desalter Project, a $32 million brackish water project in Camarillo, in Ventura County.

The remaining grant winners received between $650,000 and $1.5 million to pay for studies and pilot projects, all in Southern California.

https://i1.wp.com/www.mercurynews.co...2C9999px&ssl=1

State officials still have $58 million in Proposition 1 funds to award for desalination projects. Among the projects looking for funding in the next round is a proposal by Cal-Am Water in Monterey County that state officials said needed more detail. The plan would drill slant wells under the sandy beach at Marina near a sand mining plant to generate drinking water.

Although ocean desalination is a major source of drinking water in Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern counties, in California there are just five active ocean desalination plants that provide less than 1 percent of the state’s drinking water.

The largest, by far, is a $1 billion plant on the coast in Carlsbad, 35 miles north of San Diego, that opened in 2015. The largest desalination plant in the United States, it generates up to 56,000 acre-feet of water a year — roughly 8 percent of San Diego County’s water supply.

But the cost is high, from $2,131 to $2,367 an acre-foot, depending on how much is produced, which is double the price that Metropolitan Water District of Southern California charges for the same amount of water from other sources such as local dams, the Colorado River or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. By comparison, the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose pays about $400 an acre foot for water from the Delta.

The other ocean desalination plants are in Santa Barbara, Catalina Island, Marina and San Nicholas Island. Together they can produce about 4,000 acre-feet a year.

About a dozen other ocean desalination projects are still pending or are in various states of environmental studies, design or funding. One of the most prominent is in Huntington Beach, where Poseidon, the company that built the Carlsbad plant, has proposed a similarly sized plant but is running into opposition from environmental groups worried about the impact on fish and other aquatic life.

“Even after last year’s rain in California, good planning is still going forward for both brackish and ocean desalination,” said Paul Kelley, executive director of Cal Desal, an industry group.

“Hopefully a couple of new ocean desalination projects will break ground in the next two or three years, and on the brackish side, I think anywhere from five to 10 will move forward.”

Some places have rejected projects over concerns about energy use, ocean life and growth. Santa Cruz city leaders withdrew plans for a $115 million desalination plant after voters in 2012 approved a ballot measure banning desalination unless approved by a vote of the people.

Brackish desalination is growing faster. As of 2013, there were roughly 24 brackish plants in California, which produced about 96,000 acre-feet of water a year. Another three were in design or under construction, with 9,000 acre-feet more, and 17 were proposed with 81,000 acre-feet capacity.

The Alameda County Water District opened a brackish desalination plant in Newark that has been desalting about 14,000 acre-feet of water a year since 2013 — about 20 percent of the district’s supply.

“Technological advancements are happening all the time,” said Kelley. ” And the cost of water keeps going up, so the cost of desalinated water isn’t as out of proportion.”


https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/...state-funding/