Green Daily

Lake Mead and Lake Powell

Skiing on snow is not the only type of skiing that's endangered by warming. Lake Mead, in Arizona, and Lake Powell, in Arizona and Utah, were created by damming the Colorado River. They both provide not only water for Southwestern cities, but also recreation for people who like to go rent houseboats, waterskis, or paddleboats and relax in the National Recreation Areas around the lakes. But recently, a UCSD/Scripps Oceanographic Institute study found that Lake Mead and Lake Powell have a 50% chance of going completely dry by 2021, if we keep sucking water out of them at the same rate and warming continues.Changes that could save Mead and Powell, according to the Scripps study, would include changing water usages in the Southwest: requiring xeriscaping in home and commercial areas, growing more desert-appropriate crops, and using more conservationist irrigation techniques. Writer Ed Abbey, who hated Lake Powell with every bit of his envirocrank heart, would be happy to see it go, and there are others who agree with him. This might be one set of vacation spots that should get phased out of existence.
Dave Rogowski, AOL
Apr 7th 2008 @ 1:40PM