The water shortage threatens to escalate
The level of the Colorado River in the US is falling and falling – due to climate change, drought and heavy water use. Researchers are calling for a quick rethink. That is without alternative.
Published: 07/26/2022, 20:03—
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Lake Mead is an important drinking water reservoir in the United States. Drought has been shrinking the reservoir for years.
Photo: AFP
The 23-year drought in the American Southwest continues to worsen. Researchers are now sounding the alarm as the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million people, is steadily declining. By the end of the year, Lake Powell and Lake Mead – the largest reservoirs in the United States on the river – will only be about a quarter full, writes Kevin Wheeler’s team from the University of Oxford in the journal Science. In 2000 it was still 95 percent.
