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In the United States, after twenty successive years of drought, the Hoover dam, located near Las Vegas, will soon no longer be able to supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes, because the level of Lake Mead, which feeds it , is at its lowest and there is no longer enough pressure to turn the turbines.
Lake Mead is one of the jewels of the Great American West. It is the largest man-made water reservoir in North America. But for several years, it has also been the symbol of a world that is going wrong. The lake has just reached its lowest level since the 1930s. With global warming, the mountains of Colorado receive less and less snow in the winter and in the spring the Colorado River carries less and less water to Lake Mead which supplies nearly 40 million Americans as well as the agriculture and industries of several states.
For some residents, the growth of Las Vegas contributes to this decline. And as the water drops, the energy pulled of the Lake Mead dam is in danger of being extinguished. “There is no longer enough water pressure to push it through the turbines, which are less and less efficient. If we reach a water level of 289 m above the sea, the dam will no longer be able to produce electricity and today we are only at 317 m“, explains Patti Aaron, of the Bureau of Complaintthe US Water Agency. Lake Mead is only filled to 30% of its capacity today.
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