We here living in the DESERT SOUTHWEST have been bombarded with dire warnings for quite some time about coming water delivery curtailments. This week that rumor became fact: Lake Mead water portioning has been curtailed beginning immediately. How could this have come about? Many moons ago in 1965, my new wife and I were headed for L.A. to visit my uncle, on our honeymoon, having driven from Chicago. Heading out of Las Vegas on I-15 we saw a sign: Having never before left Illinois, I had no idea at all what Hoover Dam was, but we elected to go see it. Boulder City turned out to be a delightful small town situated atop high ground looking out over Lake Mead, which I then had no clue about it's existence. Suddenly below us, as the roadway twisted and turned, a view impossible to comprehend in that dry, hot desert took our breath away! So this was Lake Mead, with a 550-mile long shoreline, man-made as a result of the construction of Hoover Dam; I will never forget that feeling that day. Here is an early image of the first experts looking over the choice of a location for the dam; it was built behind where they are standing, extending from canyon wall to canyon wall. The Colorado River is quietly flowing here, probably in early Winter: Knowing several years of uncertain river flows would be inevitable, the highest known flood-stage flow, something like 200,000 cubic feet per second (1,600,000 gallons per second), 4 giant diversion tunnels were bored out of the rock of the canyon walls, two on each side, to allow a maximum flow of twice that amount. The tunnels were lined with steel conduit, 50 feet in diameter. Here is a section of that pipe: Entire river flow was thus diverted around the work area which was isolated by a temporary "coffer" dam, the entire river-bottom being scoured clean of rock, silt, and build-up down to rock. Several of the diversion tunnel holes may be seen in the early image below: The dam was built of concrete "cubes" poured and stacked atop one another: Until it finally looked like this: In this view, the two powerhouses, one on each side, are already under construction. They house the equipment which generates the electric power which was sold, and paid for, construction of the project. The dam is 700 feet high; here is the back side, "upstream side", which will be filled with impounded water. 4 intake towers were constructed to allow water beginning at a minimum depth of 200 feet to "fall" downward to spin the generators. IOW, they operate at a water pressure of about 80 pounds per square inch. Note the "dead space" below the bases of the intake towers: WATER STORED BELOW THEIR BASES IS TRAPPED, and cannot be released downstream. This explains why a "water shortage" exists, though the lake still contains a helluva lot of water. Note the vehicles atop the dam! Below is an image of the dam backside with lake at full capacity. Water depth is about 600 feet! Only the tops of the intake towers are visible. Initially filling, it took something like 10 years of Colorado River run-off to fill the lake. When the dam was deemed acceptable for the task, those four 50-foot diversion tunnels were sealed with concrete; today if open, they could "drain" the dead area below the intake tower bases. Guided tours of the dam are truly inspirational. The inside of the powerhouses and various access walkways are as clean as the inside of a hospital! That day when we first drove there, I parked and we walked out onto the dam. I hazarded a look downward, at the face of the dam, and the sight made me catch my breath! In 1987, the sale of electric power paid off the last of the dam's bond obligations. AFAIK, not one cent of taxpayer money was used in building Hoover Dam. The absolute enormity of the project is hard to picture and imagine, much less take at simple face value. The drought causing today's water woes began in 2000. Perhaps over the next few years Mother Nature will grant a return to normal snowfall and rain.
I know it's not a direct parallel...I'm on well water for the first time in my life. I have no idea how deep & vast my aquifer is...or isn't. It might be OK for generations, or I might be screwed tomorrow. I got no way of knowing. I hope your supplies replenish, Frank. I know there have been Water Wars out that way among some western states for decades, and that politicians don't make good decisions (nor are they trustworthy.) I'm not certain if you're caught up on those, or if that's strictly a Colorado River thing.
@John Brunner Your concern is, of course, appreciated by us. Not to worry, our home is supplied good water by a private company which manages deep wells all around the area. We are 1 mile away from four huge water tanks atop a hill; our water pressure is quite high. The water contains quite a bit of alkali, like all Desert ground-water, but taste is OK. The cost is amazingly reasonable; we do not really try to conserve, our usage is over 200 gallons per person per day often, and our billing shows ~ 20,000 gals.used per month, cost about $60. For your own peace of mind, it is not difficult to do a "drawdown" test on your well. Measure how far down below ground level the water level is using a weighted rope, then run a hose continuously on your "flower beds" or wherever for about an hour and re-check distance down to your water level. If it drops appreciably, like a foot or two, this is a bad sign. More classical drawdown testing actually measures the quantity of water withdrawn and compares that to level change as well as "re-charge" capacity.
I had gone to the county water department to get a copy of the driller's report & final test, but all they had on file was the permit application...no final report was filed. That's typical here. I had a garage built that added 10% to the value of the place. It was permitted and inspected. This was in 2010. It still doesn't show in the taxable assessed value. I'm not too worried about my water. The "neighbors" moved here in the 80s and are still on their original well. The subject of water is a hot topic around here. Those in town are on a public system for water & sewage. While politicians would love to get the entire county on that system, we're too scattered for it to be realistic. Lowes & Walmart set up shop here around 2008, too far from town to be on that public system. Several huge wells were dug for them by the county, who owns & maintains that system. An added cost recently hit when the EPA decided that the effluent had too much zinc in it for the size the river is at that location, so a 15 mile long pipeline had to be run to dump it where the river is wider & deeper. There's a 950 acre gated community across the street that draws from the same aquifers. Even though residents complain about the occasional "brown and slow-running water," new homes are still being built there. And that same developer is building apartments and town homes across the street. And another developer has been given the green light for a 500 unit apartment complex right next to Walmart. And another developer has been given permission for a townhouse development less than a mile up the road. We don't need the housing, it's to provide a cheap place to live for folks who work in Charlottesville 15 miles up the interstate. In addition to the water stress, there's also the infrastructure [school system] stress. It's headed the same direction as the overgrown area I left. Politicians + Developers = $$$$$$. There's nothing they won't whore for a buck. The county south of us shares its border near the interstate where all this mess is. They are very anti-business. Their residents shoulder all the tax burden, under lots of political mismanagement. It's a long (and familiar) story. Suffice it to say that there is now a joint venture to tap into a river in that county and pipe water to where all this development is for both counties to leverage...except that when beginning the pipeline, an Indian burial ground was uncovered. It should not have been a surprise. Lots of folks knew it was there. Most feel this was not a mistake...this was intentional sabotage. I forget what the project's current status is. I just hope that when that line is run, the residents in my part of the county are not pressured to hook up to it. I'd rather suffer the risk of my private well than drink the garbage that government serves up (the water authority in town has been cited several times for not meeting standards.)
@John Brunner It surely sounds as though concerns over your water are a far more well-founded issue than here in the desert, where we get 5 inches of RAIN A YEAR! No idea how these aquifers get recharged, but they seem to be supporting the usage base pretty well. PROGRESS (so-called) would appear to overshadow all else in your area. Frank
I'm 5 miles as the crow flies from the mess at the interstate. I'm not concerned where I am, it's so sparsely populated (the adjoining property is over 250 acres with one house on it, and there are hundreds of acres of vacant lots behind me.) There are not a lot off us putting stress on the water. There are no commercial farms, and most of the folks out here who have gardens capture rain water for that purpose, if they water at all. Heck, I'm 1/2 mile off of the paved road, as are many of us. The county ain't gonna be running a sewer line here any time soon. I've learned a bit since I've been here. Virginia Polytechnic Institute (a public research university) has extension offices throughout the state that help with things like agriculture, wildlife, water quality, etc. I've participated in programs where they do extensive water testing at a greatly reduced cost in part to maintain their database of the condition of private wells throughout the state. I took their coursework to become a "Master Well Owner," since I had no experience being on a well. Virginia has 4 "physiographic regions", which are driven more by bedrock than topography: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Ridge & Valley. Each has its own method for getting to water supplies (ground water, cisterns, artesian wells, bored wells, drilled wells.) I have no idea how water is stored (and retrieved) in desert regions. It's amazing how we have bent Nature so we can survive in some of these areas (I'm in awe when I fly into Vegas.) But we're always on a bubble...some of us more than others. Too much rain, not enough rain, or an errant asteroid, huh?
Floridas aquifers are in criticle condition. Big biz like Nestles,CocaCola are taking billions of galons ou=t for years now and then they algae problem isn't helping from the PTB letting big ag fill up our lakes and waterwas with polluting fertilizer runoffs.
I grew up in Big Lost River Valley. Over a very impressive range (The Lost River Range) to the east is Little Lost River. Why Lost Rivers? Because they flow out into the “desert” on the north side of the Snake river and get lost. Somewhat downstream from Blackfoot is the 1000 Springs State Park. The assumption is that this is where the 'Lost Rivers” reach the Snake River. Most of the farmers, if not all, in Big Lost have wells for irrigation along with the 'Water rights" that provides surface water from the river. For the last few years out of state interests have been trying to buy/steal Big Lost water. Yvonne will know about 'The Desert.'
A few years ago I read that the bottling companys dried up all the wells and water up north ,forgot where it was now. I'm not a tree hugger but do think we manufactor too much plastic and send out of country too much of our fresh water resources. Most of our ground water is unhealthy and our children will pay for our denial.
The very best fresh water available in the United States was at one time said to be that found beneath the Los Angeles Basin, in granitic rock formations. Frank
The east coast has a surplus of water and there are even flooding concerns here from Ida. I wonder if it would be feasible to pipe some of it west.