A01=James Lawrence Powell
agriculture
alternative energy
american west
Author_James Lawrence Powell
big dams
Category=RNFD
Category=TNF
city water
climate change
colorado river
conservation
dam
dam building
deserts
drought
earth science
energy
environment
environmental science
environmentalism
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_tech-engineering
glen canyon
glen canyon dam
global warming
hydropower
irrigation
lake mead
lake powell
natural resources
nonfiction
politics of water
reservoir
science
southwest
urban planning
water
water rights
water use
weather
western water
Product details
- ISBN 9780520254770
- Weight: 635g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 05 Jan 2009
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir that has become an emblem of this story. At present, Lake Powell is less than half full. Bathtub rings ten stories tall encircle its blue water; boat ramps and marinas lie stranded and useless. To refill it would require surplus water - but there is no surplus: burgeoning populations and thirsty crops consume every drop of the Colorado River.Add to this picture the looming effects of global warming and drought, and the scenario becomes bleaker still. "Dead Pool", featuring rarely seen historical photographs, explains why America built the dam that made Lake Powell and others like it and then allowed its citizens to become dependent on their benefits, which were always temporary. Writing for a wide audience, Powell shows us exactly why an urgent threat during the first half of the twenty-first century will come not from the rising of the seas but from the falling of the reservoirs.
James Lawrence Powell, Executive Director of the National Physical Science Consortium at the University of Southern California, is author of Grand Canyon: Solving Earth's Grandest Puzzle, among other books.
