Amount of Water Storage is Declining in Lakes Around the World (go.com) 23
The amount of water stored in half of the largest lakes and reservoirs around the world is declining due to human activity and climate change, according to new research. From a report: While lake water storage can naturally fluctuate in response to local precipitation, direct human activities, such as damming and water consumption, are increasingly affecting precious water resources, according to a study published Thursday in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Researchers combined global satellite measurements with climate and hydrologic models to detect trends in lake water storage for nearly 2,000 of the world's largest lakes and reservoirs from 1992 to 2020. The findings revealed "widespread decline," according to the study. About 53% of the water bodies studied were found to have experienced significant water losses over the last 28 years at a rate of roughly 22 gigatonnes, or 1 billion metric tons, per year, according to the study. The declining water storage could affect a quarter of the world's population, Fangfang Yao, a surface hydrologist who conducted the research with the University of Colorado Boulder, told ABC News. "This trend is likely to continue if we do nothing about climate change or do not restrict human water consumption," Yao said.
Crap Reporting (Score:5, Insightful)
About 53% of the water bodies studied were found to have experienced significant water losses over the last 28 years at a rate of roughly 22 gigatonnes, or 1 billion metric tons, per year, according to the study.
This are completely meaningless statistics, and that should have been obvious to the reporters. For all we know reading the article this makes up 0.0001% of the water in those lakes. No one knows how many billion metric tons there are in all the lakes in the world.
I did a Google search and there are apparently 30,000 cubic miles of lake water in the world. One cubic mile is about 1.5 billion metric tons. So it looks like that isn't much water loss after all. Then again maybe they only looked at a few lakes, but you wouldn't know that from reading the summary or article.
Only certain kinds of lakes. (Score:5, Informative)
Normal ("exorheic" or "open") lakes aren't really vulnerable to this, because if less water flows into them, then less water flows out, and the lake level stays the same. Most large fresh-water lakes are in this category. Superior, Huron, Michigan, Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi, Baikal, Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Erie, Ontario, etc., are all normal exhorheic lakes.
Other than the Caspian (which is not freshwater), I think Titicaca is the largest lake that is really vulnerable to shrinking in this way.
Re:Only certain kinds of lakes. (Score:4, Informative)
Link to paper and map (Score:4, Informative)
It's talking mostly about reservoirs, and perhaps also some endorheic lakes.
Normal ("exorheic" or "open") lakes aren't really vulnerable to this, because if less water flows into them, then less water flows out, and the lake level stays the same. Most large fresh-water lakes are in this category. Superior, Huron, Michigan, Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi, Baikal, Great Bear, Great Slave, Winnipeg, Erie, Ontario, etc., are all normal exhorheic lakes.
Other than the Caspian (which is not freshwater), I think Titicaca is the largest lake that is really vulnerable to shrinking in this way.
The authors of the study made an interactive map https://cires.colorado.edu/glo... [colorado.edu] The paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10... [science.org]
Re: (Score:2)
It is the fact that the Colorado river flows through more than one state. Each state handles water "rights" and general irrigation management very differently. And as the Colorado river flows through the worst behaving states first, it affects California the most.
Your statement of power shifting from hydro to nuclear may be valid consideration for the region. But with the Colorado river being mistreated as it is, your proposed nuclear plant would run out of cooling water before it becomes profitable. Hence
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Fortunately, the Colorado river doesn't flow through California, so if we remove Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam, will the problem sort itself out?
Re: (Score:2)
But with the Colorado river being mistreated as it is, your proposed nuclear plant would run out of cooling water before it becomes profitable.
People have figured out how to run nuclear power plants in deserts, I doubt that getting cooling water would be a problem. Then is the option to build air cooled nuclear reactors, no water required. If we run out of air then we have larger problems than no electricity. Perhaps a better idea is to put nuclear power plants near the sea, the sea isn't going to run out of water. By being by the sea that opens up options for desalination to produce fresh water, water that could be piped to where people need
Restrict human water consumption? (Score:1)
May want to rethink that.
Although he could publish a paper that people don't need to drink 8, 8 oz. glasses of water each day. Bonus: "drink more water" is not a treatment for every human disease and condition.
salt water (Score:1)
Nuclear power and desalination - the next frontier.
53%? (Score:3)
If 53% of lakes in the study are losing water, does this mean that 47% are gaining water? What is the overall net gain / loss for all lakes? The article doesn't say.
Re: (Score:2)
Just on the wording, it says 53% experienced "significant" loss of water. So the other alternatives for the other lakes is "insignificant" loss of water or stayed the same.
Indeed, the overall amount would be quite informative.
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The wording does not preclude the possibility that other bodies of water gained some or even significant amounts of water. This is the kind of one-sided reporting that leads people to feel that either 1) the reporter is incompetent or 2) the reporter is trying to push an agenda.
Error (Score:2)
"over the last 28 years at a rate of roughly 22 gigatonnes, or 1 billion metric tons, per year"
Since when does 22 divided by 28 equal 1 ?
Re: (Score:2)
Not an error. Was calculated on a very old slide rule with blurry markings.
Superior Data (Score:2)
stick with Olympic swimming pools... (Score:2)
gigatons, metric tons... let's measure in Olympic swimming pools again!
Controversial... (Score:2)
"This story of lake level rise is being repeated across the globe. Last year a team led by Lian Feng at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzen, China, analysed satellite images of all of Earth's 3.4 million lakes and reservoirs from 1984 to 2019. The team came up with the 46,000 square kilometre expansion figure mentioned earlier, but found that if you eliminate lakes that are shrinking, the growth amounts to 167,000 square kilometres."
Source. [newscientist.com]
Of course it's worth pointing out that it's pos
My leg hurts... (Score:2)
...due to climate change.