# Anyone else surprised (dismayed?) by Las Vegas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-surprised-dismayed-by-las-vegas/980948 "2023-03-09T21:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 255
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-surprised-dismayed-by-las-vegas/980948/255 "2023-03-24T16:27:55Z")
Long thread on Lake Mead water levels, trends, etc. > [@What do you think will happen when the water level at Lake Mead falls below 1050 feet?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-will-happen-when-the-water-level-at-lake-mead-falls-below-1050-feet/954201): > > Lake Mead sits just outside Las Vegas, created by the construction of the Hoover Dam back in the 1930s. Lake Mead is the largest capacity water reservoir in the US and that water is used, in part, to generate electricity at the dam. Hoover Dam has 17 turbines that generate electricity. 5 of those have been upgraded to newer, more efficient models that can run at lower water levels than the previous/original turbines. The 12 that have not been upgraded cannot function when the water level in … As to Lake Mead, it’d take a decade of above average rainfall / snowmelt to refill it. Maybe even 2 decades. Meanwhile to climatic trend is drier, not wetter. As to the burgeoning headcount in the Southwest, yeah, it’s a problem. But the electricity from Hoover Dam is small potatoes; what matters to Vegas and the entire desert southwest is water. Power can be shipped in from anywhere. Water not so much. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-surprised-dismayed-by-las-vegas/980948)._