After Decades Of Warming And Drying, The Colorado River Struggles To Water The West
KUNC Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, has been hit hard by warming temperatures and downstream demands. The Colorado River is tapped out. Another dry year has left the waterway that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation’s two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time this summer, the federal government will declare a shortage. Climate change is exacerbating the current drought. Warming temperatures are upending how the water cycle functions in the Southwest. The 1,450-mile long river ...
Source: kunc.org