Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Monday, March 9th, 2015

Water grab pits Las Vegas against Mormons

Author:     EDVARD PETTERSSON
Source:     Bloomberg News
Publication Date:     March 7, 2015
Link: Water grab pits Las Vegas against Mormons
Stephan:   At one level I always like to see my predictions be proven to be true. But at another level, I am often saddened by that success, since so many predictions, based on the trends I see, have such unhappy outcomes. Although the media in general can't be bothered with this story yet, as you can see in this report, the struggle over water in the Southwest is beginning to seriously heat up, and there is no good outcome for any of the parties. Although the Las Vegas hotels are doing excellent work with water conservation, there are simply too many people in the city and its surrounding metropolitan area. Las Vegas, as currently configured is doomed. As are Phoenix, Tucson, and Albuquerque.  Ultimately the struggle described in this report is all a kind of Kabuki theater. Water is destiny. And the destiny of the Southwest under climate change is to see the water gulping cities build there wither to some remnant of their former selves.
Credit: photo.net

Credit: photo.net

Las Vegas is seeking to quench its growing thirst by draining billions of gallons of water from under the feet of ranchers whose cattle help feed the Mormon church’s poor.

A legal battle across 275 miles of treeless ridges and baked salt flats comes as the western U.S. faces unprecedented droughts linked to climate change.

The surface of Las Vegas’s main source of water, Lake Mead, is more than 100 feet below Hoover Dam’s spillways after reaching the lowest mark last summer since the dam was filled. As it seeks new sources, the city’s water supplier is waging a court fight over plans to suck as much as 27 billion gallons a year from the valley that is home to the Mormon ranch and its 1,750-head herd, as well as three other rural valleys.

Casino resorts, five of which are Southern Nevada’s largest commercial water users, labor unions and the developer of a 22,500-acre mini-city west of Las Vegas argue their future depends on the water supply that the church, […]

Read the Full Article