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Officials are in a \"race against time\" to protect communities and other natural resources from the effects of climate change, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot told ABC News.

\"Climate change impacts have become a matter of protecting communities in California -- worsening wildfire risk, worsening drought, extreme heat,\" he continued. \"We used to think about preparing for climate change impacts as sort of a future planning exercise for coming decades. Now, we're actually responding to it as the public safety imperative.\"

Lake Tahoe, Northern California and Nevada

Variability in water levels is typical at Lake Tahoe, a 22-mile-long and 12-mile-wide lake on the border of California and Nevada -- dropping during the summer and rising during the early part of the year, Geoffrey Schladow, director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at the University of California, Davis, told ABC News.

But the combination of less snowpack, drought and increased usage by humans has left the water just about 2 1/2 feet above the natural rim of the lake at the start of the dry season -- and it will only continue to empty as the season goes on, Schladow said.

Come October, the water will likely be at the rim, which means water will no longer naturally flow out of the lake and into the Truckee River, the sole outlet of Tahoe and an important source of irrigation along adjacent valleys, Schladow said. The Truckee River also feeds into Pyramid Lake, which supplies water for the city of Reno.

The water level was already lower due to a relatively dry year in 2020 that added little volume to the lake, Schladow added.

\"PHOTO:
George Rose/Getty Images
PHOTO: A blustery day with clouds moving across the lake brings the chance of rain and snow as viewed on April 14, 2021, in Sand Harbor, Nevada.
>

In May, water levels in Lake Tahoe were so low that some boats could not be launched from ramps and docks. The City of South Lake Tahoe even closed a boat ramp to motorized boaters for the 2021 due to the low levels, ABC Sacramento affiliate KXTV reported.

Despite the drop, the communities surrounding Tahoe likely won't suffer as much as those who depend on reservoirs elsewhere in the West that supply water to millions of people, Schladow said. Lake Tahoe, by contrast, is massive and serves just tens of thousands of residents, rather than millions.

Scientists and lawmakers who monitor the lake are not yet overly concerned about the water levels in Tahoe because fluctuations are normal -- the last time water levels went below the rim was in 2016. However, if the trend were to continue over the next few years, and the region continues to experience dry winters, concerns may be raised, Schladow said.

\"We're not in any imminent or real danger of not being able to supply in basin water needs, at least not for the next few years,\" he said.

Great Salt Lake, Utah

The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the world and the eight-largest terminal lake -- with no natural outlets -- has lost at least half of its water since the first settlers arrived in the region in 1847, a 2017 study published in Nature Geoscience found.

The decline is mostly a result of humans redirecting the water from streams and rivers that feed the lake for use in homes, farms and industries, the study found, with levels dropping 11 feet over the past 150 years -- despite a peak elevation of 4,211.6 feet in 1986-87. The usage has been aggravated by drought and climate change, leaving water levels at near-historic lows, Laura Vernon, Great Salt Lake Coordinator for the Utah Department of Natural Resources, told ABC News.

\"PHOTO:
Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, FILE
PHOTO: In this Feb. 25, 2016 file photo signs of the Great Salt Lake's low water level are evident at the Great Salt Lake Marina State Park in Utah.
>

The lake levels are currently at three-tenths of a foot away from the historic low set in 1963, Vernon said, adding that she expects that barrier to be broken within weeks. Experts and lawmakers in the region are currently coming to terms with \"what that means exactly,\" she added.

The drops are even more significant considering the size of the lake. At 1,700 square miles, \"it takes a lot of water to make a change,\" Vernon said, adding that it was likely \"something continuous over time\" to make a difference in the water levels.

The economic impacts of a drying Great Salt Lake could be devastating. In 2012, the Salt Lake Advisory Council valued the annual economic industry from the lake at $1.3 billion, Vernon said. Depending on how low the water levels were to get, there could be a $1.69 billion to $2.17 billion economic loss every year for the brine shrimp harvesting and mineral operations, the products of which would dwindle as the lake recedes, she added.

\"PHOTO:
Jim Urquhart/Reuters, FILE
PHOTO: In this April 14, 2020 file photo The salt covered lake bed and saline waters of the Great Salt Lake are pictured from north of Salt Lake City.
>

The skiing industry could be affected as well, as the lake effect snow that is created as a result of the moisture over the lake would cease to exist, Vernon said. And if the snowpack on the mountains doesn't stay frozen, it will all rush down at once and fail to consistently provide water to the surrounding communities, Vernon said.

Human health can take a toll as well as water recedes, exposing more of the lake bed embedded with decades worth of heavy metals and toxic substances within the sediment. When the bed dust is exposed for long periods of time, the particles can end up in the air and can pose a danger as residents breathe it in, experts say.

The biodiversity the lake promotes would dwindle as well. About 10 million birds stop over at the lake every year to rest and feed during their migration routes -- such as the Pacific Flyway route before they head to South America, Vernon said.

Colorado River

Water flow in the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million people and feeds into the two largest reservoirs in the country -- Lake Mead and Lake Powell -- has decreased by about 20% over the last 100 years, according to a 2020 study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists,

Several scientific papers published in recent years point to human causes for about half of the decline in river flows. The other half is attributed to warmer temperatures, which then lead to higher evaporation and water use by plants, Udall said.

\"And if that evaporation goes up slightly, river flow and decline precipitously,\" Udall said. \"So, roughly speaking, a 1% increase in evaporation can lead to a 5% decrease in river flow.\"

\"PHOTO:
David Zalubowski/AP, FILE
PHOTO: In this May 1, 1997 file photo a sign marks the Colorado River as it flows past the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park near the town of Grand Lake, Colo.
>

The Colorado River system is one of the most important in the country. As the river begins in the Rocky Mountains and wraps across the Southwest before it feeds into the Gulf of California, water is diverted to major cities such as Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego and farms to the south in Mexico. About a quarter of the water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell comes out of the Colorado River system, Udall said.

Recent droughts have been so severe that even in years when the Rocky Mountains experience a high snow pack, the arid soil in the region is so parched that it absorbs up any moisture as soon as it melts and flows down, Udall said.

\"PHOTO:
Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
PHOTO: The Colorado River in Bullhead City, Arizona, June 16, 2021.
>

For instance, in any given year, 50% the water from a full snowpack would be expected to be runoff, Udall said. Despite the warming temperatures, the region saw an 85% snowpack last year -- described by Udall as \"not a bad year.\" But only about 30% of runoff water made it to the river, Udall said.

\"On any given day, it's now likely to be hotter. We have a longer growing season, so more days for it to be hot. And the atmosphere, because it's warmer, actually wants to absorb or suck up more moisture,\" Udall said.

The new trends are \"basically our future,\" Udall said, adding that scientists have predicted a worst case scenario of a 40% flow loss by 2050.

\"It's very worrisome,\" Udall said.

ABC News' Lindsey Griswold, Anthony Rivas and Jon Schlosberg contributed to this report.

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