Hot and dry in the Southwest

It was 113 degrees yesterday in Los Angeles, as you may have heard, and that it was the hottest day on record for them in all the years records have been kept--and that goes back to 1877. I won't even mention global warming or climate change. What I will say is that this, on top of the fact that the Southwest is in their 11th year of drought. From The New York Times today: For the first time, federal estimates issued in August indicate that Lake Mead, the heart of the lower Colorado basin’s water system — irrigating lettuce, onions and wheat in reclaimed corners of the Sonoran Desert, and lawns and golf courses from Las Vegas to Los Angeles — could drop below a crucial demarcation line of 1,075 feet. If it does, that will set in motion a temporary distribution plan approved in 2007 by the seven states with claims to the river and by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada would be reduced. This could mean more dry lawns, shorter showers and fallow fields in those states... More from Terry Fulp, the Bureau of Reclamation's Deputy Regional Director for the Lower Colorado Region: “We have the lowest 11-year average in the 100-year-plus recorded history of flows on the basin.” So what, you say? Well, so this: ...scientists predict that prolonged droughts will be more frequent in decades to come as the Southwest’s climate warms. As Lake Mead’s level drops, Hoover Dam’s capacity to generate electricity, which, like the Colorado River water, is sent around the Southwest, diminishes with it. If Lake Mead levels fall to 1,050 feet, it may be impossible to use the dam’s turbines, and the flow of electricity could cease. And if Hoover Dam can't be used, guess what big gambling city in the Southern corner of Nevada is in big trouble? (Hint: sounds like "lost wages"). And mind you, they are already "...tunneling under the bottom of Lake Mead to install a third intake valve that could continue operating until lake levels dropped below 1,000 feet." But this is at least troubling for the Southwest region, for sure. I would think they'd rethink golf courses out there but I'm sure that, as a business, that's one of the last things they'll want to do is shut down a business. And grass lawns--you'd think they'd get rid of those since they're transplants for, from and by Midwesterners and Easterners, mostly (and in fact, they are doing that, some, anyway). What this all boils down to (no pun intended), is that, whether people in Southwest US are believers in climate change or not, they have to know that the way they live has got to change and that they have to use less water and possibly--maybe even likely--get used to warmer weather. Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28mead.html?_r=1&th&emc=th; http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/09/at-113-degrees-downtown-la-hits-all-time-record-high-temperature.html