Shortage Of Water In Colorado River Essay

Global Warming and Population Increase Affecting the Water Levels of the Colorado River What would happen if people woke up to no water? This is a problem people in the southwest of the United States may encounter in the near future. Climate change is rapidly changing as the earth’s temperatures get hotter. With global warming, it is affecting the amount of water people have access to. The Colorado River supplies seven states in the southwest and part of Mexico. The water levels have been reseeding in the past couple of years and water is becoming more scarce. Climate change and an increase of population is contributing to the decrease of water in the Colorado River. Seven states depend on the Colorado River to generate power and supply water. With over 30 million people relying on the river for water there have been issues its water supply to the states of Wyoming,

Las Vegas didn’t exist yet and at that time there would be no reason to allocate large amounts of water to the area. The city isn’t receiving as much water as other states and must be stricter with their water usage. Gardens are source of water loss, because of the amount of plants people have in their gardens. In Southern Nevada, there are gardens that are comprised of desert plants to reduce the use of water. (Smithsonian, 2015) The state is strict with its water, but despite the cut down of water usage, Lake Mead is currently at 36% capacity. The lake was last full in 1983 and has lost 130 feet of water since 2000. (CBS news, 2016) If the water capacity was based on human activities use alone, then the Lake wouldn’t be at low capacity, there has to be other factors contributing to such low water levels. The shortage of water in the Colorado River is a combination of the sudden change of climate and human activities. Human activities can change easily, but a growth in population is much harder to deal with