Photos: The water level of Lake Powell and Lake Mead has fallen significantly over the last decade
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The Austrian business magazine "trend" theme world issues around water. Leading in water footprint with 2483 cubic metres per person per year are of course the United States. The consequences are visible not only in the newly emerged Tuff rocks visited by us at Mono Lake, but the Colorado River, the lifeline of the West is obviously also massively affected already.
It rises in the water-rich Rocky Mountains in Denver and has a watershed approximately twice as large as Germany. After more than 2,300 kilometres no powerful river flows into the ocean, but a dirty trickle that often already sands in the summer before the actual mouth in Mexico.
The huge reservoirs and massive irrigation of whole areas are the reason. But also the reservoirs - admired by us - are acutely threatened. Lake Powell and Lake Mead have lost more than half of their volume since the year 2000, the water level fell by an average of 45 metres. Should this trend continue, electricity and water supply of cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego is acutely endangered. Visit America as long as it still stands!
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