Cam,
that is pretty dry country.

Gary, Yeh that picture is actually pretty flattering. From another angle the lake looks more like a puddle.

Cam,
It looks low--like many in South eastern Australia. Is Canyon-Lake Arizona just a recreation lake?

Is climate change in this part of the US causing the landscape to become drier as in South eastern Australia.

Nice group of road trip photos by the way.

Gary, Dont know. The US South-West is unsustainable without the Hoover Dam, but then no modern urban city is truly sustainable and all draw heavily on external resources.

Arizona is going to be my new home in the next week or so.

Cam,
my understanding was that there was widespread agreement that southwestern North America is heading toward a climate even more arid than it is today.

Doesn't that imply a reduction in the flow of the Colorado River — which mostly consists of snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains?

Cam and Gary,
Have you seen this article---The Future Is Drying Up in the New York Times Magazine by Jon Gertner? It's recent--October 21, 2007---and it gives the broader historical context for what Cam saw at Canyon Lake near Phoenix.

It's a good article. It says (p.6) that the drier conditions could have the folowing effect:

The worst outcome...would be mass migrations out of the region, along with bitter interstate court battles over the dwindling water supplies. But well before that, if too much water is siphoned from agriculture, farm towns and ranch towns will wither. Meanwhile, Colorado’s largest industry, tourism, might collapse if river flows became a trickle during summertime. Already, warmer temperatures have brought on an outbreak of pine beetles that are destroying pine forests; Pulwarty wonders how many tourists will want to visit a state full of dead trees.

Migration, siphoning water from agriculture for the cities and dead trees is becoming the norm in south eastern Australia.

Pam,
No I hadn't seen it. Thanks for that. I was going to add to Cam's post then I thought I'd do a new one.

Phoenix has the second wealthiest and fastest growing county in the US (Virginia has the wealthiest and fastest growing). I actually live in the fastest growing county in the US and am moving to the second fastest growing county.

So people like me are part of the problem. Just as I was part of the urbanisation of Virginia, I will be part of the urbanisation of Arizona too.

Most of the US north-east uses a mixes of dams, lakes, rivers and wells to supply their water. The town I am in now isnt under drought as it takes its water from the Potomac River, but the towns around are under drought pressure. First time I have seen it in the area. There are signs on the streets about water restrictions.

I wont be seeing what my water bill is in Arizona as I am in a townhome apartment block and they bundle the water rate in as a flat fee. I suspect water is cheap in Arizona.

You folks are all wet. The water in the Lake has been drained for preventative maintainace.

They let all the water run down through Phoenix.

Geez guys.

Kevin,
point taken.
We do need to distinquish between Cam's original post and Gary's intepretation of the image as illustrating the effects of climate change on southwestern North America---ie., a warmer climate is making this region even more arid than it is today.

Cam was far more cautious than myself. I was working off Jon Gertner's The Future Is Drying Up article in the New York Times Magazine which argued a greatly reduced Colorado River — which mostly consists of snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains---would wreak chaos in seven states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.

Is Arizona in the box seat in the legal framework governing the Colorado River for historical reasons? What do you make of Gertner's argument--the future is drying up? Gertner makes the point that:

One catchphrase of the water trade is that water flows uphill toward money, which is another way of saying that a city with ample funds can, at least theoretically, augment its supplies indefinitely.... Wealth allows for the additional possibility of a sophisticated trading scheme whereby Las Vegas might pay for a desalination plant on the Pacific Coast that would transform seawater into potable water for use in California and Mexico. In exchange, Nevada could get a portion of their Colorado River water in Lake Mead.

It is mentioned that Arizona is selling some of its water to Las Vegas.

Gary,
I've continued to read the Gertner article. It says that the legal framework governing the Colorado River the states that use the Colorado reached a tentative agreement that guarantees Lake Mead (which supplies Arizona) will remain partly full under current conditions, even if upstream users have to cut back their withdrawals as a result.

The deal supplements a more fundamental understanding that dates to the 1920s. If the river is failing to carry a certain, guaranteed volume of water to Lee’s Ferry, which is just below Lake Powell, the river’s lower-basin states (Nevada, Arizona and California) can legally force the upper-basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah) to reduce or stop their water withdrawals.