Even as drought forces water cutbacks, climate gets short shrift in midterm election
The streaks of white on the rock ringing the nation’s largest reservoir show how far its water levels have dropped since it was last full. Lake Mead and nearby Lake Powell, which send water to 40 million people in the Southwest, are at their lowest levels since they were filled in the 1930s as part of the Hoover Dam’s construction on the Colorado River. The lake actually overflowed in 1983 and nearly hit capacity in 1999. Now, it’s at only 26% of its capacity — and losing altitude monthly as a decades-long drought brought on by a changing climate keeps it from replenishing the supply. Yet in a crucial U.S. Senate campaign primarily being waged a short drive away that could sway control of the chamber, the candidates are barely mentioning the disappearing water levels and the drought that’s causing it.