Video Showing Just How Much Lake Mead Has Dried Up Is Alarming at Best
This has been a hard year for the planet, with the effects of climate change getting worse every day. These past few months in particular has been brutal with record-breaking heatwaves across the planet, and massive flooding affecting some areas while heavy droughts hit others.
One place where the effects of drought are drastically apparent is at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada. A resevoir formed by the Hoover Dam, it is the largest water resevoir in the United States by capacity- but it's severely drying up to an unprecedented extent. NBC Nightly News, doing a story about the effects of climate change, traveled out to Lake Mead. This segment was shared to their official @nbcnightlynews TikTok page.
This is very grim, no way around it. Water levels tend to ebb and flow over time at Lake Mead, but never has it been this extreme. This is a vital reservoir, supplying water to a massive part of the southwestern United States. If this is a vision of things to come, it's deeply worrying.
As many in the comments observed, though, climate change alone is not the only culprit behind what's happening at Lake Mead. "Its not just climate change, its also over use of water," @karmachameleon27 stated simply. It's true though- overconsumption of water has been an issue in lots of areas, including Southern California, where many celebrities have been accused of massive water waste in times of drought. "No one talks about the water features and massive swimming pools that have been built over the years," added @cj6943.
Some had their suggestions about what should be done to combat this. "Step 1. Immediately close down all golf courses. Water usage goes way down and the land can be repurposed for farming/housing/parkland," suggested @smeguy. Interesting observation, though we can't help but remark that farms, houses, and parks all utilize water as well.
Truth is, there is no simple answer to combatting this problem. It's a multi-faceted issue that has a number of factors driving it. If you want to get active about doing more to combat issues like climate change and water waste, though, UC Davis has a helpful starting guide.
