FROM high in the hills around Las Vegas, tourist Choune Osterero gazes down at the line of chalky mineral deposits left on the rocks around Lake Mead as the level of America’s largest reservoir has dropped over the last quarter of a century of drought.
The bathtub ring, which now hovers 186 feet (57 metres) above the surface of the water is a vivid illustration of the reality of a changing climate.
The river supplies water to more than 40 million Americans across seven states. Along the way it is stoppered by the two massive dams 300 miles (480 kilometres) apart that created Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which store the snowmelt-fed river water for year-round distribution, and whose huge turbines generate electricity for hundreds of thousands of households.
Lake Mead is now just a quarter full, while Lake Powell hit an all-time low in August. Both lakes are dangerously close to the threshold where electricity generation would be affected. — AFP
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