# Lake Mead at 36% of Capacity **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482 "2021-06-17T18:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/1 "2021-06-17T18:53:59Z")
[**A picture’s worth a thousand words.**](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150225073843-08-popular-parks-0225-exlarge-169.jpg) The debate is, what happens if and when Lake Mead disappears? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/2 "2021-06-17T19:06:51Z")
Then we can remove the Glen Canyon Dam and restore some sections of the Colorado River. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/3 "2021-06-17T19:45:27Z")
**Modnote** : I agree with the flag, moving to IMHO as not really up to Great Debate standards. A picture and one sentence is asking for opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/4 "2021-06-17T19:49:11Z")
Ring around the collar! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/5 "2021-06-17T19:52:26Z")
Hoover Dam stops working? Las Vegas goes dark? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/6 "2021-06-17T19:58:26Z")
I’m seeing a significant cascade effect here, which is why I asked a question that has more than 2 or 3 simple answers. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/7 "2021-06-17T20:07:20Z")
What happens if Lake Mead disappears is what should happen, the desert will return to being desert. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/8 "2021-06-17T20:33:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Ring around the collar! The actual local term for it is “the bathtub ring”. Seriously. When I lived in Vegas (~85-'95) I had a boat in a marina on Lake Mead. The bathtub ring then was 30% - 40% of what it is today. I tried to get a Google map of where the marina used to be but Google didn’t want to share nice. Punchline being that a marina that held 2-300 boats is now about 1/2 mile inland from the current shoreline. It’s long since been dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere at the new shoreline. Then 10 years later moved to the new, new shoreline. … ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/9 "2021-06-17T21:15:52Z")
These are from a few years back, but still pretty illustrative. > **[California Drought: Devastating Photos Show Lakes Drying Up | The Weather...](https://weather.com/science/news/devastating-photos-show-lakes-drying-20140825?hcb=1)** > > Before-and-after photos show just how much the state's bodies of water are suffering. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/10 "2021-06-17T21:16:23Z")
That’s why, despite the high cost of living and the over population of this region, I’m staying right here. I live adjacent to the largest concentrated fresh water supply in the world. If we’re destined to dry up and die of thirst, we have a whole ton of drying up to do before that will ever happen here. Of course, the desperate hordes dying of thirst might be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/11 "2021-06-17T21:28:46Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I live adjacent to the largest concentrated fresh water supply in the world. Lake Baikal? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/12 "2021-06-17T21:58:02Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Lake Baikal? If you throw in Lake Nipigon and Lake Champlain into the total of the fresh water in the Great Lakes, it’s about equal to Lake Baikal’s total. Not as concentrated though. Still, we’ve got enough here for a little while yet. It’s good to live on a Great Lake. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/13 "2021-06-17T21:59:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Then we can remove the Glen Canyon Dam and restore some sections of the Colorado River. Wouldn’t removing the Glen Canyon Dam **restore** Lake Mead? We’d just be giving up Lake Powell to do it, and restoring the Colorado river there, instead of downstream. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/14 "2021-06-17T22:12:56Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s good to live on a Great Lake. It’s good to live on a [Mediocre Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Washington) too! ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/15 "2021-06-17T22:29:39Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Wouldn’t removing the Glen Canyon Dam **restore** Lake Mead? We’d just be giving up Lake Powell to do it, and restoring the Colorado river there, instead of downstream. Not an expert here, but isn’t this just kicking the can down the road? Certainly consolidating the depleted water into a single reservoir instead of two would improve Lake Mead’s levels, but it does nothing to address the impending shortage this signals. Stumbled on this article which discusses the topic. Take it for what it’s worth. > **[Why Filling Lake Mead First is a bad idea](https://americanrivers.medium.com/why-filling-lake-mead-first-is-a-bad-idea-ec1bcbf12c07)** > > Letter to a Drowned Canyon is a beautiful expose on the situation facing Lake Powell and the greater Colorado River. We have some thoughts. I’m curious if shade balls or some equivalent technology could be deployed at scale here to mitigate evaporation and buy us time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/16 "2021-06-17T23:36:24Z")
The problem isn’t just evaporation. It’s a lack of rainfall and snow pack. It’s increasing demand downriver because agriculture, cities, and industry need more water both due to increasing population and decreased rainfall/other sources. Even if you could stop all evaporation I suspect it would only slow, not stop, the depletion of Lake Mead. The problem is that **the climate has changed.** There is no going back at this point. Either those served by Lake Mead and Hoover Dam adapt or they die. Remember, it’s not just water - Hoover produces a lot of electricity, too. Until the water drops too low, then the turbines stop and those depending on it will be left hot and thirsty in the dark. The dam’s production of electricity is already reduced 25% as of right now. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/17 "2021-06-18T00:17:25Z")
My Wife and I live at 11,200 feet in elevation in the Colorado Rockies. We’ve always thought that when we retire/move in 10 years or so we will move to a lower elevation to get out of the cold and snow. It can be quite brutal at this elevation. I think we will be re-thinking that as time goes on. We may be in the perfect place. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2021, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/18 "2021-06-18T01:12:21Z")
You don’t need to move. That better climate is coming right up to meet you. Only problem is it’ll take 50 or 150 years to get there. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2021, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/19 "2021-06-19T01:24:52Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Then we can remove the Glen Canyon Dam and restore some sections of the Colorado River. And Edward Abbey will dance in his grave. He probably already is since the writing’s been on the wall for some years now. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482/20 "2021-06-19T02:08:14Z")
I guess I’m glad we live in Ohio. On a (very good) well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lake-mead-at-36-of-capacity/944482.md?page=2)