If it comes as a surprise to you that the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico have been experiencing the worst drought in 1200 years, i.e., since the year 800 CE, your response is a scathing indictment of the Indian media’s coverage of global climate change.
Yes, a megadrought has gripped Southwestern North America for the past 22 years. But what in God’s name is a megadrought? Simply put, a megadrought is a prolonged and severe drought spanning over a period of two decades or longer.
This megadrought began in the year 2000 and has had catastrophic ramifications for at least seven states of the US and Mexico. A study in the journal ‘Nature Climate Change’ calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-induced climate change. Low rainfall and snowpack melting earlier in the season may be other major contributing factors.
The Cataclysmic Ramifications of the Megadrought
The megadrought has had a major influence on the environment, water resources, and socioeconomic aspects.
The Colorado River system, which supplies water to 40 million people in seven US states, has been severely affected by the megadrought, and is currently flowing at 84% of its historical normal flow.
In August 2021, as a result of the megadrought, the United States Bureau of Reclamation declared a water shortage at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, for the first time in its history. Currently, the lake is only 28% full of its total capacity. Lake Mead has receded so much that at least two human skeletons and a sunken World War 2 era landing craft have been found in parts of the now-exposed bottom.
Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the US, has fallen to 26% of its full capacity with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projecting that hydroelectric energy production could halt as soon as July 2023.
The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere has been shrinking as a result of the drought. In 1987, the lake’s surface area was around 3300 square miles. As of August 2021, it has shrunk to just 950 square miles.
In June 2022, the US Federal Bureau of Reclamation set a 60-day deadline for the seven Colorado River Basin states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to come up with an emergency plan to reduce basin-wide water usage, or the agency would step in and implement the cutbacks itself. In August 2022, after the states failed to reach agreements to reduce water use, the federal government stepped in and issued cuts that will reduce Arizona’s water share by 21%, Nevada’s by 8%, and Mexico’s by 7%.
In August 2021, water levels at Lake Oroville dropped to a historic low of 24%, forcing the Edward Hyatt Electricity Plant—which supplies hydroelectric power to up to 800,000 households in California—to shut down for the first time. Following substantial rains in December, operations restarted in January 2022.
As a result of the shortage of water, farmers are forced to extract groundwater at excessive rates, which increases the likelihood of depleting groundwater stores which will then take a long time to replenish.
The megadrought has also increased the likelihood of wildfires. As the trees and plants dry up, they become more likely to catch fire and spread it around.
Wildlife is also not exempt from the agonizing effects of the megadrought. Animals find it harder to fulfill their water needs. The salmon fish need to migrate up and down rivers frequently and they are unable to do so because of low water levels. Millions of migratory water birds that rely on thousands of different bodies of water for food and resting throughout their protracted migrations north and south across the continent are also heavily impacted.
Mitigation & Adaptation
According to a 2021 research, rising drought conditions are now unavoidable for the region, although the most catastrophic predicted consequences can still be averted by climate change mitigation. Climate change adaptation to drier conditions, however, will be required.
Resolving this problem will require unprecedented cooperation among states, innovation of new technologies, and active participation of the common public, civil society, and businesses.
The water cuts adapted by the Southwestern states under the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan will hopefully ensure reservoir levels don’t reach critically low levels.
Some of the solutions suggested in order to mitigate the effects of the megadrought include:
Harshit is a writer and researcher working in the development sector for the past 3 years. He has helped conduct research for social projects in the fields of education, water, sanitation, and health focusing on vulnerable and marginalized communities and on issues such as caste, class, gender, equity, discrimination, etc. He has a Master’s degree in Sociology from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and has qualified UGC-NET in Sociology. He has worked as an Assistant Professor of Sociology for a women’s college in Jaipur, Rajasthan catering to students from marginalized communities. He has been working with Indev Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. as a Research & Communication Specialist for multiple projects.
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