KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - "Nevada's Going to Dry Out," Scientist Says

"Nevada's Going to Dry Out," Scientist Says

While Louie Obradovich has spent the last 50 years fishing and enjoying Pyramid Lake, Dr. Wallace Bruecker's spent the last 50 years studying it.

Though they've never met, both men will tell you the lake's not what it once was.

"The water level has probably gone down 100 feet in the past 50 years," said Obradovich

"In 50 years, Pyramid will be half as big as now, maybe a third as big as now. More saline, less fish, shorelines of mud," said Bruecker.

Dr. Bruecker's part of a meeting of 30 researchers at the University of Nevada this week. They've studied what are called terminus lakes - those which have no water outlet, like many in the Great Basin.

And they're findings point to a dramatic change. These scientists say as global warming gets worse the lake level at Pyramid will get even lower. In fact, they predict that more precipitation will start falling in the tropics and that will make us even drier.

Which Dr. Bruecker says will have a huge impact, "That's going to change life, it's going to change vegetation. It's gonna change the way you use your lands."

And its not just happening in Nevada. They say terminus lakes around the globe are drying up. And because no water's flowing out of them, they're used as an example of what could happen if humans don't curb CO2 emissions.

Bruecker, who happens to be the man who's credited with coining the phrase "global warming," gives it 10-percent odds we don't experience longer, more severe draughts, "90% says its going to get drier."

Louie Obradovich finds it a disappointing prospect, "But sooner or later Mother Nature will take care of things."