Not a Single Polar Bear Was Harmed in the Writing of This Essay
24th August 2022
I‘m sure you’ve seen the pictures of lakes Mead and Powell, those great reservoirs on the Colorado River that supply water to the west. For years now, we’ve been allowed to believe that we are in a great drought that is causing these lakes to diminish to their current meager levels. The drought, we’re directed to assume, has been caused, or at least exacerbated, by climate change, which is in turn caused by our own arrogant use of fossil fuels, the bane of all existence, an existential threat as urgent, deadly, and certain as the great asteroid that hit the Yucatan and destroyed the dinosaurs. The bathtub ring of calcium salts that stains the rock at the edge of these reservoirs is yet more evidence that we are the problem and will cause our own demise, good riddance to us.
But for those who believe all this and demand massive response, look at this chart; it comes from the US Dept. of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation study completed in 2012. It shows the Colorado River Basin’s historical watershed and the actual and projected demand for water from this watershed.
This chart, to even the most ardent climate change activist, shows absolutely that the declines in lakes Mead and Powell have nothing at all to do with drought. It is demand that is draining the lakes; we’ve depleted the watershed faster than it can be replenished. Further, there is no evidence that the watershed is diminished at all. The entire issue is a fiction.
