Climate Change Is Not Behind Lake Mead's Decline, Overuse And Poor Management Are

With an atmospheric river dumping trillions of gallons precipitation on California and other western states, some news outlets have asked how the precipitation might affect Lake Mead, suggesting that the rainfall will do little for the lake or the Colorado River basin which feeds it because it's drying out due to climate change.

Although it is true that the current storm will likely do little to reverse Lake Mead's decline in the long-term, the reason for its decline is not climate change, but instead, overuse and poor management of the reservoir.

On February 7, for example, Newsweek, ran two stories on the heavy rains, "Bomb Cyclone To Dump More Water Than in Lake Mead on California," and "Atmospheric Rivers Won't Refill Lakes Mead and Powell, says expert."

Lake Mead's water levels are dominated, not by a single rainfall event, affecting areas primarily downstream of the reservoir, but by seasonal snowpack across the course of the winter which, when it melts over time, flows into the lake, its feeder streams, and Lake Powell above it, which is the primary source of stream flow feeding Lake Mead. Last season's record snowfall on mountains of the Colorado River Basin boosted lake levels.

As detailed at Climate Realism, here, here, here, and here, for example, this is not the first time climate activists, often with the support of the mainstream media, have falsely claimed climate change has caused a precipitation decline in the Western United States, which they blame for recent declines in Lake Mead, the Great Salt Lake, and Lake Tahoe.

Mismanagement is part of the story of the decline in some Western rivers, reservoirs, and lakes, but there is no evidence long-term climate change is contributing to the decline.

The largest source of water for Lake Mead is outflow from Lake Powell, yet Lake Powell is also oversubscribed and has the same problems with sedimentation and evaporation that Lake Mead does, limiting the water sent downstream to Lake Mead. Less flow in, more water withdrawn is a recipe for declining water levels. 

https://climaterealism.com/2024/02/climate-change-is-not-behind-lake-meads-decline-overuse-and-poor-management-are/