Not terribly far from Las Vegas is the Hoover Dam. Huge. Huge. Massive. A new road is underway. Incomplete high bridge looming above. Slow traffic. Security stop. Very low water. Scary low. I knew it was in trouble, but seeing it really drives it home.
Like all natural basins, it has sloping sides so that the lower water level is much worse than it would be if a glass was half full.
Maybe Mr. Kelly can come up with an example. I'm thinking that some container with sides that slope gradually (maybe 45 degrees or so) filled up 1/3 the way and then filled up all the way. Compare the volumes of water. I think you'll be surprised.
And probably saddened when you realize what it means to nature and people in this area. Also, don't forget water equals electricity for thousands of square miles around the dam. We met the power lines stretching from the dam many times many miles away.
We stayed the night in Williams, Arizona, about 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon's southern entrance. We were at a hillside motel where the 40-50 mile an hour winds were amplified by the shape of the hill. We met some interesting people that have traveled the world, doing quite adventurous things - bungee jumping in New Zealand from the second highest platform anywhere - for example.
I went out and got some marshmallows and we roasted them around the motel's fire pit that night as the flames tried to roast us back in that gusty wind.
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