The Most Bizarre Effects of a Megadrought

Gizmodo writes that "The western and southwestern U.S. is wilting under the biggest drought in 1,200 years - a megadrought..." "But the longer the West's dry spell goes on, the more bizarre the drought-related stories get." Some examples?Long-sunken history and even evidence of past crimes are emerging from the receding waters. First, a barrel containing a body showed up in Lake Mead. Less than a week later, separate skeletal remains surfaced. Elsewhere where droughts are occurring, similar stories are popping up. As the drought progresses, police forecast that more human remains and other lost items are likely to continue to show up. And last month the New York Times warned that Utah's Great Salt Lake had already shrunk by two-thirds, and now faced "an environmental nuclear bomb." Now Gizmodo reports that state's legislators are "considering a truly wacky idea to keep the body of water going."Utah lawmakers floated the idea of a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to the landlocked state during a meeting in May. "There's a lot of water in the ocean, and we have very little in the Great Salt Lake," Sen. David Hinkins (R), the commission's co-chair, said during the meeting. The Pacific Ocean is, at minimum, about 966 km [600 miles] and a mountain range away from the Great Salt Lake. Though, experts previously told Gizmodo that the idea of a pipeline wasn't totally surprising or out of the question. The saline lake supports lots of Utah industries, including tourism, brine shrimp harvesting, and mineral extraction. So there are strong financial incentives for the state to try to preserve the lake.

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