Midwestern Drought Causes Water Conservation

Lake Mead falls to lowest level since Hoover Dam's construction as "apocalyptic" heatwave and drought hit parts of US.

Transcript

00:00this is it this is the iconic Hoover Dam in all of its glory and wonderment it was built as a

00:08monument to America's ascendancy providing power and water in a country hungry for both yet this

00:15triumph of engineering risks becoming a monument to the global tragedy of environmental change as

00:22the reservoir which powers the Hoover Dam depletes we're in the 22nd year of drought in the Colorado

00:31River Basin Lake Mead is at 35% capacity and that means we have about 25% less ability to produce

00:39power nature displays its distress well the white band is the watermark vividly showing what the

00:47level was and what it has fallen to this reservoir which supplies the dam and 25 million people is

00:54now at an all-time low we will very likely be declaring shortage for the first time ever in

01:04the lower Basin for the year 2022 the electricity for 8 million Americans is produced by the Hoover

01:11Dam this vast site powered by Lake Mead to protect electrical output a shortage declaration would

01:18reduce the water supply to homes and businesses people need to conserve water in every way that

01:25they can in their homes in their landscape rising temperatures offer huge challenges to the lake

01:31and the dam drought and climate change are the major problems here but this year's super high

01:37temperatures mean that evaporation has reached record levels too enough water is lost every week from

01:44here to fill 15,000 Olympic sized swimming pools and water pressure on a depleting supply the dam provides

01:57power to Las Vegas America's power guzzling playground it's the fastest warming city and in the driest state

02:05with an expanding population and rising temperatures conservation is all surprisingly in terms of

02:12water at least the strip is not the problem almost all of it here is recycled here's some water right

02:19here wastage elsewhere is the real issue this is water waste water waste investigator 7158 I have water

02:29coming through a brick wall from the back Las Vegas is tackling that with round-the-clock patrols oh yeah

02:35look at this there are fines of up to five thousand dollars for water wastage and I guess people would

02:41say this isn't a big deal this is only a little bit of water but this is cumulative effect if you take this

02:46whole complex there's all thousands of gallons of water there going out that that main gate there and this

02:53water will go into the storm drain system it evaporate before it even hits the lake so that's where the

02:59waste is from this if there's this is not recoverable I have a spray and flow situation these patrols are

03:08part of Las Vegas's attempt to protect the lake that so much of this city depends on water consumption is

03:14going down but the lake is going down faster it's sad every drop counts a century ago human ingenuity

03:24delivered a supply solution for America's West even greater ingenuity will be needed to ensure this

03:30wonder of the past has a place in the future