Southwestern US Drought is Getting Worse
The southwestern US is experiencing a severe drought. Here are few excerpts from a Robert Hart article in Forbes.
“Water levels at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. and a major water source for some 25 million people, sunk to the lowest levels since it was created by the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, officials announced Thursday.
The low levels will affect the dam’s electricity capacity and could prompt the first water shortage declaration from the federal government, which could cut water supplies to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.
75% of the American west is experiencing severe drought—more than a quarter of this considered to be the highest level, “exceptional”—according to the U.S. drought monitor, adding to a long-running “megadrought” that has afflicted the region since the turn of the millennium.
Experts believe rising temperatures due to climate change are exacerbating the drying and contributing to heatwaves, creating the kind of conditions where it is hard to recover from drought conditions.
The conditions point to another above-normal risk of fire for the region, according to the National Interagency Fire Center and experts, a grim prospect after the worst fire season on record.
