Editorial: Warnings are heating up

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

With every new scientific report about the future of Southern Nevada, the question of how long our fast-growing population can be sustained is raised again.

The latest report is contained within a world overview of deserts put together by the United Nations. Local contributors to the report included several researchers with the Nevada System of Higher Education's Desert Research Institute.

Global warming is a focal point of the local report. Southern Nevada, already parched from six years of drought, could see decreases in precipitation of between 5 percent and 15 percent as this century progresses, the report says.

Additionally, desert regions such as Southern Nevada could see average daily temperatures rise as much as 9 to 13 degrees during the next 100 years, accelerating a current trend. From 1976 through 2000, the world's deserts experienced increases of between 1 and 3.5 degrees. A DRI scientist in Reno told the Las Vegas Sun, for a story published Sunday, that Southern Nevada's temperatures rose "a couple of degrees" during that time.

One implication for Southern Nevada is that warmer temperatures could bring more rain, but less snow, to the Colorado River Basin. This shift could spell trouble because melting snow is much more efficient than rain in replenishing river water.

As the river becomes more uncertain for the long-term outlook of Clark County, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is pressing harder for the right to pipe ground water from rural counties on our northern border. Yet the U.N. report warns "underground water supplies ... formed over thousands and in some cases over a million years, are increasingly being drained ..."

"The biggest casualties may be cities in the deserts of southwestern Asia and in the Southwest United States," the report says.

Once again a report has come out detailing the potential consequences of global warming and what should be done. "Profound changes with important implications for water supplies and people ... are likely in some regions unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced," a statement accompanying the U.N. report says.

The consistency of the many reports on global warming lends credence to their projections. Southern Nevadans alone can't forestall the projected temperature increases, but we can do our part by supporting mass transit and the use of cleaner fuels.