Lake Mead: Aquafornia Water Word of the Week
Aquafornia’s Water Word of the Week from sister site Aquapedia is Lake Mead, a brand new entry to the Water Education Foundation’s interactive online water encyclopedia.
According to an excerpt from Aquapedia’s definition, “Lake Mead is the main reservoir formed by Hoover Dam in Southern Nevada. Created in the 1930s as part of Hoover Dam [see also Elwood Mead], Lake Mead provides water storage in the Lower Basin of the Colorado River. The reservoir can hold 28,945,000 acre-feet’s capacity and at 248 square miles its capacity is the largest in United States. … However, one of the largest droughts on record in the region dating back to 2000 has lowered Lake Mead’s water level. Combined storage at Lake Mead and Lake Powell is down 50 percent. Meanwhile, Lake Mead loses roughly 800,000 acre-feet of water annually through evaporation. These water supply concerns have a ripple effect, including on recreation and on water allocation to Arizona, California and Nevada.”
In the Aquapedia entry, there’s also a section on Lake Mead Agreements, including the Minute 319 agreement with the United States and Mexico.
For those wanting to further their studies on the issues surrounding Lake Mead, Aquapedia even includes additional resources. For example, the Foundation offers the following: “Updated Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River,” “A Call to Action? The Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study, Western Water, Nov/Dec 2012,” “Solving the Colorado River Basin’s Math Problem: Adapting to Change, Western Water, November/December 2011,” along with a Colorado River slideshow and map.
Also, there’s no better way to learn about the issues related to Lake Mead than to attend the 2014 Lower Colorado River Tour (Field Trip) scheduled for Feb. 26-28. Mark your calendars!
To receive breaking daily news on Lake Mead, go to the related page on Aquapedia and click on “Search This Topic on Aquafornia” for the latest information.