PEAK WATER

In addition to the Tucson area having to absorb the effects of Peak Oil, it now looks like Peak Water will be earlier threat.

Lake Mead Could Dry Up by 2021
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 12 February 2008 02:17 pm ET

Lake Mead, a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States, could go dry by 2021, a new study finds.

The study concludes that natural forces such as evaporation, changes wrought by global warming and the increasing demand from the booming Southwest population are creating a deficit from this part of the Colorado River system.

The study’s findings indicated that there is a 10 percent chance that Lake Mead could be dry by 2014 and a 50 percent chance that reservoir levels will drop too low to allow hydroelectric power generation by 2017. There is a 50 percent chance the lake will go dry by 2021, the study says.