Las Vegas Water Crisis

Water scarcity is increasing worldwide and dramatically affecting first world nations such as Spain, Australia, and the United States. All nations are now starting to recognize that the world's water is a finite resource, and that resource is being drastically altered in both availability and quality by development, climate change and population growth. In the United States, the Colorado River is experiencing rapid declines in volume. Recent studies and data suggest that the changes in frequency, intensity, and timing of the availability of water will have substantial impact on the way we live our lives in the 21st century and beyond. As Letmathe Brakeck said, “I am confident that, under present

Just imagine what would happen if New York City’s water supply completely deteriorated or stopped providing us with water due to climate change. Residents of New York have a responsibility of learning about our water, and voicing our opinions to help the water supply continue to sustain its 9 million inhabitants. The NYCDEP provides “Water Utilities” in their

Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these

In the book The Big Thirst, Charles Fishman addresses the key issues of how water is abused in areas, like Las Vegas, and the era of “easy” water is over. Fishman explains where the largest amount of water is located and water’s presence in space. His book is mainly composed of case studies showing how water in certain areas, like Las Vegas and India, has been dwindling and the absence of preparation in those places when the water is almost gone. Lastly, he talks about the misconceptions of tap water and the lack of understanding communities and people in power have about the future of water. Fishman wants the reader to be crystal clear on how water has come to this point, the issues of water shortages, and the solutions to water problems.

Arizona has an incredibly large dependence on the Colorado River and groundwater. In fact, 39% of all water usage in Arizona is comprised of Colorado River water. Any dependence of that scale on any resource that originates in another area is always a major risk, as any major disaster or drastic change to the source of the river can cripple the state’s water supply. Furthermore, while Arizona does house the majority of the Lower Basin of the Colorado, the Colorado’s Upper Basin is shared between 4 other states, all with their own water needs and all with a susceptibility to drought. On the other hand, another 40% of all water Arizona uses is from groundwater sources. However, the Colorado River and these groundwater sources in the Colorado River basins have lost over 65 cubic kilometers of water over the last 9 years, with nearly 2/3 of it from groundwater loss due to over-pumping. This is because

For this paper water structures and infrastructures were selected as focus points because the longer we wait to fix issues with them, the more expensive it will get, in other words, we are in a race against time. Studying the past it is easy to see how water availability made population explode in an area such as Southern California, where savvy marketing and great politics made it happen. Particularly, for Los Angeles and for the purposes of public narrative, Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert does a great job at understanding and identifying the politics and key figures in getting water to Los Angeles. Great hydrologic structures were created using both manpower and water politics. It is important to state that there are connections between water, politics, environment, and geography when analyzing what the biggest problems involving water structures and infrastructures (Reisner.) We must think of water as both a socio-political issue and a natural resource, whose fate is molded by the understanding of its connectivity to itself, man-made structures, geography, environment, and society. The classes taken in this program have taught us ideals that in order to become a great water resource manager, one must master the political and scientific knowledge to make decisions that are prosperous for society and the environment. Furthermore, one must know the United States’ hydrological history in order to gain manipulation upon the system that makes it both thrive and deteriorate.

On March 27, 2014, Wade Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle reported “The Water Revolution California needs.” California is having a severe drought. Wade Graham tells his readers that California is in a serious water crisis. The state of California needs to make strict changes to how water is being distributed amongst farmers and residents. Before all of California’s ecological system is destroyed. Wade Graham believes that water should be priced higher; that way people aren’t wasting water. Water is a limited resource that should never be wasted, and is probably California’s most valuable resource. Unfortunately, many people waste water; instead of conserve water especially when we live in the state of California where we are subject to

Simply stated, knowledge can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you use it. Arguably, the inherent purpose and power of knowledge lies in the ability to use that knowledge to make good changes to things around you. The “Individuals and Societies” module explored the implications of knowledge and how we should use knowledge to make changes with respect to our water crisis. In Josh Viers lecture entitled “California Water Wars,” he presented the fact that California, more specifically, is facing a water crisis. Viers states that one reason for this water crisis is the phenomenon of the Sierra Nevada facing monumental shifts in climate change. He posits that the Nevada is shifting from a snow-dominated to rain dominated flow regime, that there is now an earlier timing of snowmelt, and that there are now longer dry seasons (Viers). The purpose of this lecture was two-fold, to inform us about our current and past actions and to warn us that changes need to be made to prevent the exacerbation of our water crisis. Viers urged us to look at the data and see that our actions

The city of Sacramento, the state capital of California, is confronted with the need to take action to manage current water consumption trends with respect to climate change, an increase in population, and an increase in business. Residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural demand for water are rising during the recent period of drought that triggered the notion of conservation efforts statewide and the potential for water supply shortage is extremely high. This is a plan to respond to the crisis by changing the way the city manages its water supply by enacting new structured fees for business and residential water consumption tiers and furnishing an educational program designed to familiarize consumers with the enforcement of a new tiered fee structure. The proposal is written in response the state’s 20x2020 plan that dictates universal water reduction with the intention of reaching a fixed 20% of overall water consumption reduction by the end of the decade, and the CALGreen building code that regulates the implementation of water-saving technology in new and existing construction.

Specific purpose statement: To persuade my audience to take action in order to conserve one of the most finite and precious resources we have in the U.S.

When referring to Arizona’s water Kris Mayes, chairwoman of the state’s utility regulatory panel once said, “How do you say just how valuable water is in an arid state like Arizona?” she said. “It’s like the credit-card commercial-it’s priceless” (McKinnon). She was right, because in a dry state like Arizona, water is pretty important. To say water is ‘pretty important’ for the world is an understatement. We use water to function. And when we think of water we think of saving it. Keep the faucets from dripping or turn off the water while brushing your teeth. There are numerous tips for water conservation, but people don’t often think of the damage that is already done. Damages like ‘dead zones’. Dead zones in the ocean have been around for

When it comes to water conservation, there are two types of changes that are looked upon. There are little changes in the lifestyles of people and there are changes using technology. Within the two, the majority of people look at changes using technology, such as desalination and water recycling. In the other end, mostly environmentalists and vegan activists look at the amount of water eating food uses and how the agriculture industry uses about half the water in the United States. But is this really true? And which form of water conservation can be most efficient for the prolongment of the earth?

Within the United States, there are numerous concerns regarding water. The Colorado River, one of the most powerful in the U.S., is starting to dry up due to homeowners who are illegally pumping its contents. Lake Mead in Arizona, currently supplying water to over 22 million people, might become obsolete by 2021. We haven’t had to deal with scarcity, like in places such as Africa, but it seems that we are causing problems that are difficult to undo through our sheer wastefulness.

The altering of nature has become a persistent obstacle slowly but evidently tainting the living conditions of further generations to come. Man-made additions to the environment such as the introduction of new chemicals and foreign organisms are altering an already adapted environment. Synthetic creations by man are being implemented in order to simplify the nature of earth’s surroundings, negligent to the fact that man is destroying its own home. As time progresses and advancements to technology and medicine take place, populations soar placing stress over scarce resources. The environment is unable to restore the loss of vital resources as rising populations begin to take advantage of them. Locally, the negative impacts on the environment begin to make a difference. The geographical anatomy of the state of Nevada is made up of deserts. With a growing population, once around 160,00 in 1950 to now over 2 million inhabitants, the methods of water usage rely greatly on strategic thinking. The Las Vegas Strip is home to around 31 casinos and welcomes around 40 million visitors a year depleting local water sources. In order to preserve the already endangered vital source, Las Vegas Strip Casinos should limit the amount of water they utilize in the pleasurable aspects of their buildings and focus on using a moderate amount. After all Las Vegas Blvd. is our main source of revenue.

Water crisis leads to increased poverty, migration of people in search of water, social unrest and