Study: Climate change effects on water supply potentially devastating

Wed, Jul 23, 2008 (2:15 p.m.)

Climate change will create devastating drought in Nevada and throughout the Southwest and continue to lower the levels of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, threatening the water supply for 2 million Nevadans.

The prediction came as part of a study released Wednesday by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research. The study, paid for in part by the Environmental Defense Fund, analyzed the economic and environmental costs of global warming on 12 states around the country.

“Unless we take action to cut the pollution causing climate change we will further jeopardize Nevada’s water supply,” said Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Environmental Defense Fund, in a press release. “The threat to the water supply in Nevada and other western states demonstrate that the most expansive thing we can do about climate change is ignore it.”

According to the study, severe drought caused by climate change will also:

- Constrain development and construction, which account for 157,000 jobs across the state;

- Damage water-based recreation which brings in over $1 billion annually;

- Cost the state more than $3.5 billion to build new pipelines to meet Las Vegas' water demands.

View the full report here: www.ncsl.org/programs/environ/ClimatePubs.htm.

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By mikeg

7/23/08 at 10:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Ok so raise water rates. This will lead people to stop wasting so much water on frivolous pursuits such as big green lawns (residences use 50% of Las Vegas' Lake Mead water use). This serious public problem has one of the simplest solutions possible. Raise water rates!
By jfnance32

7/24/08 at 12:06 a.m.

Suggest removal

So there was a worst drought in this region 120 years ago.

Was that caused by global warming, too?

I bet $100 that there is a cycle of droughts that hit this region every 15 to 20 years.

I guess all of those were caused by global warming too.

The Environmental Defense Fund has a very biased approach in everything it does. So I do not seriously accept this as a scientific study. It is just propaganda.
By thebs

7/24/08 at 12:40 a.m.

Suggest removal

Oh here we go again with Nance and his crazy speculative timelines.

Tomorrow he'll claim it's every 20 years. Then, a few hours later he'll claim it's every 6 months.

Huh, timelines without any proof? It's Nance's modus operandi.