00:01this is it this is the iconic Hoover Dam in all of its glory and wonderment it was built as
00:08a
00:08monument to America's ascendancy providing power and water in a country hungry for both yet this
00:15triumph of engineering risks becoming a monument to the global tragedy of environmental change as
00:22the reservoir which powers the Hoover Dam depletes we're in the 22nd year of drought in the Colorado
00:31River Basin Lake Mead is at 35% capacity and that means we have about 25% less ability to
00:39produce
00:39power nature displays its distress well the white band is the watermark vividly showing what the
00:47level was and what it has fallen to this reservoir which supplies the dam and 25 million people is
00:55now at an all-time low we will very likely be declaring shortage for the first time ever in
01:04the lower Basin for the year 2022 the electricity for 8 million Americans is produced by the Hoover
01:11Dam this vast site powered by Lake Mead to protect electrical output a shortage declaration would
01:18reduce the water supply to homes and businesses people need to conserve water in every way that
01:25they can in their homes in their landscape rising temperatures offer huge challenges to the lake and
01:31the dam drought and climate change are the major problems here but this year's super high temperatures
01:38mean that evaporation has reached record levels too enough water is lost every week from here to fill
01:4515,000 Olympic sized swimming pools and water pressure on a depleting supply the dam provides power to Las
01:58Vegas America's power guzzling playground it's the fastest warming city and in the driest state with an
02:06expanding population and rising temperatures conservation is all surprisingly in terms of water at least the
02:14strip is not the problem almost all of it here is recycled here's some water right here wastage
02:21elsewhere is the real issue this is water waste water waste investigator 7158 I have water coming through a brick
02:30wall from the back Las Vegas is tackling that with round-the-clock patrols oh yeah look at this there
02:37are fines of up to five thousand dollars for water wastage and I guess people would say this isn't a
02:42big
02:42deal this is only a little bit of water but this is cumulative effect if you take this whole complex
02:47there's all thousands of gallons of water there going out that that main gate there and this water
02:53will go into the storm drain system it evaporate before it even hits the lake so that's where the
02:59waste is from this there's this is not recoverable I have a spray and flow situation these patrols are
03:08part of Las Vegas's attempt to protect the lake that so much of this city depends on water consumption
03:14is going down but the lake is going down faster it's sad every drop counts a century ago human
03:23ingenuity delivered a supply solution for America's West even greater ingenuity will be needed to ensure
03:30this wonder of the past has a place in the future
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