Folsom Lake Research Paper

In 1955, Folsom Dam was built over a town named Mormon Island and then formed California’s Folsom Lake that eventually empties into the Pacific Ocean at the San Francisco Bay. The purpose of building the dam was to help control the American River which flows across California. Since then, California’s Folsom Lake supplied water for human and aquatic life as well as for agriculture and industrial purposes. However, in recent years, the lake dried up drastically. The dam no longer feeds into the Folsom Lake and Mormon Island that has been submerged for almost six decades is now visible. As a result, there is much controversy about whether the lake’s degradation is caused by the increasingly high atmospheric temperatures or by increased consumption …show more content…
Then, the second half of the video shows the lake’s water declining so much that the mouth of the river in which the lake flows into narrows. At this point, the shoreline expands as the water levels reduce. Moreover, the lake’s water color changes noticeably from a normal blueish tone to a brownish color that blends in with the sandy shoreline. By the end of the video, the lake is no longer connected to the river and the boats and docks have been removed. In addition to the video, a before and after picture—taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)—reveals the drastic decline of California’s Folsom Lake. In just three years the water levels dropped 80 percent from 2011 with a 97 percent capacity to 2014 with only a 17 percent capacity. This decline caused the Folsom Dam to dry up and revealed an old town that was once submerged under the lake. In part, the lake’s degradation is said to be caused by global warming; however, One Green Planet states that agriculture industries has played a major role in the lake’s pollution and reduction, with particular concern of the