[NOISE] It's been called Sin City, the entertainment capital of the world or less flatteringly, one of the most wasteful and unsustainable cities in the United States. Chances are you already know what I'm talking about? Even though you might never have been there, Las Vegas, the shining neon beacon in the desert is a world-renowned destination for tourists from across the globe. It's the city where dreams are made and dreams are broken, where many seek their fortune and so many more seek an escape. For our purposes, though, Las Vegas is a perfect story of water in the West. An oasis of seemingly profligate water use in an incredibly dry desert. Sucking water from the overtapped Colorado River and watching its population grow tremendously. At the same time, it's incredible progress towards water conservation also shows us a window to what may be the future, learning to use less as supplies get harder to come by. Yet, no good Western water story would be complete without another massive water project, this time, a controversial plan for a pipeline gathering ground water from rural valleys far to the North to feed Vegas' hungry growth and keep its reputation as a tourist destination intact. So I hope you're in a gambling mood because we're off to hear how water fueled Vegas' growth and how it can determine so much more about its future. First up, the history of Las Vegas. The city was founded in 1911 when it was little more than a railroad stop between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. A freshwater spring long since dried up from ground water use, fed the young town. That water was incredibly precious. Las Vegas sits squarely in the Mojave Desert at the bottom of a dry basin surrounded by 10,000 foot mountains. Barely more than four inches of rainfall annually in the Las Vegas Valley, less than half of what the desert Metropolis of Phoenix gets, and not a whole lot more than Death Valley itself. Remember, temperatures over 115 degrees Fahrenheit are common in Vegas. Lacking much in the way of agriculture, Vegas remained a quiet, small town in the desert, for the most, part until a massive construction project nearby drew thousands of workers and related businesses to the area. That construction project, of course, is something you've heard about numerous times already, the Hoover Dam. Construction of the dam, a mere 30 miles from Las Vegas, commenced as the United States entered the heart of the Great Depression. And the massive civil works project eventually drew around 40,000 laborers to the area. That project, combined with the legalization of gambling in Nevada in 1931, started Las Vegas on the path to becoming what it is today. The rest of the history of the city involves the mob, giant corporations, tons of neon, and the building of some of the most staggeringly, enormous hotels you've ever seen. But we'll focus on the history of water in the city and how a place that seems almost careless with water is now a metropolis of some 2 million people in the blasted desert. So in 1922, as you know, the seven states of the Colorado River Basin signed the Colorado River Compact dividing the water's up of the river amongst themselves. As the state with the smallest population at the time and very little agriculture to speak of, Nevada received a meager 300,000 acre feet per year. Completion of the Hoover Dam in 1935 made it easier to get that water. But Las Vegas relied mostly on ground water until the first pipeline from Lake Mead was built in the early 1950s. In 1971, with the assistance of the federal government, the Las Vegas region saw the completion of an even larger project to move Colorado River water into the metropolitan area. This water was key to the development of Vegas as was a 1964 US Supreme Court decree allowing Nevada, and other states, to subtract return flows from withdrawals to meet their compact allocations. Essentially giving Nevada the ability to take much more than 300,000 acre feet out of the river. The city lived high off the river's water Well into the 1980s when the per capita water consumption soared as high as 400 gallons per day, one of the highest figures in the Southwest. For comparison, Phoenix's current per capita water consumption is 184 gallons per day. Then, as the 1990s began, the region's population stood at 750,000. And there was evidence that a sharp period of population growth was about to begin. So in light of this, and in recognition of the significant limitations on available water supplies, for example, ground water was already heavily tapped and withdrawals from other sources were hard to come by. The seven municipalities in the Las Vegas metropolitan region made the unusual decision to band together. In 1991, they formed the Southern Nevada Water Authority, or SNWA, an entity now very well established in Western water issues and responsible for planning an infrastructure across the metropolitan area. With their fates now entwined, the members of SNWA turned their attention to the problems before them and actually made water conservation a top priority. Their goals were ambitious and the results seem to show success. By 2014, total per capita water use has dropped a 219 gallons per day. 40% down from that figure you heard about from 1989. Even more impressive is that that drop occurred as the mega resorts opened in the Las Vegas Strip and the city saw tourism skyrocket. From 2002 to 2012, total water use by SNWA actually declined despite the construction of enormous new hotels. In 2009 the city adopted a new goal of lowering per capita water use to a 199 gallons per day by the year 2035 and seems well on their way to being able to do that. So what does it take to reduce water use in a place known for bright green lawns in the middle of a hot desert? Well a key part of SNWA's strategy has simply been an educational campaign aimed at helping residents recognize and actually embrace living in a hot desert rather than trying to stick to conventions for more humid parts of the country. As part of this, and perhaps best known of SNWAs efforts is their battle against home lawns. Despite visions of massive fountains in front of huge hotels on the Vegas Strip, resorts actually account for a mere 7% of SNWA's water use. It's actually single family residences that make up the biggest share with 70% of that water use going to outdoor purposes. Thus, it is towards those homes and that outdoor use that SNWA has aimed. In 2003, they banned front lawns at new houses and actually started an ambitious program that pays residents $1.50 per square foot to replace grass with desert plants. Each square foot removed saves 55 gallons of water per year on average. Aggressive policing of outdoor water use restrictions have also helped, as have tax credits aimed at getting mega resorts to build with major water saving features or water recycling systems that return water to the Colorado River by the Las Vegas wash. A normally dry riverbed that now runs year round with return flows. Las Vegas also pursued what is becoming more common in the US, a tiered pricing structure that increases the cost of water as water use goes up. Incentivizing the biggest water users to cut down yet. Yet, this oasis in the desert cannot survive on conservation alone. In a desert is dry as the Mojave, supply is obviously still critical and the Vegas area has already tapped most available groundwater. With such a heavy reliance on the Colorado River water, SNWA's fate is largely tied to that of Lake Mead. Which as you know, has lost significant water over the past decade and a half. That poses a significant challenge for SNWA. It draws water from Lake Mead through two intake pipes, one that will cease operation when the lake level drops to 1050 feet above sea level. And another when the lake level drops to 1000 feet above sea level. So when the first 50 years after Lake Mead filled, the lake's level stayed safely above 1180 feet. But lake levels started dropping precipitously in the 2000s. And currently ,as of when we filmed this video, the lake level is at 1088 feet. Just for your comparison, the lake is totally full when its level hits 1220 feet of elevation, mean that the lake is 530 feet deep at Hoover Dam. Thus in 2008, SNWA began building intake three. This pipe will be built at 860 feet above sea level and is capable of pulling in water even when the other two intakes shut down. That's a project that's costing a well over $800 million and one that itself could even end up insufficient if lake levels plunge below 1000 feet during extended drought. Like so many Western areas SNWA has looked far and wide for additional supplies to diversify its water portfolio and reduce its dependence on the Colorado River. Unlike many comparable areas, however, there aren't that many places to look. In the Mojave Desert, or the nearby Great Basin, there is very little water to begin with. And unlike areas such as Phoenix where significant agriculture in the region offers the option to lease water from farms. There's actually very little agriculture near Las Vegas for SNWA to draw on. So in the mid-2000s, SNWA began looking far away to North Eastern Nevada and Western Utah where they want to draw groundwater from four remote valleys and pump it about 285 miles back to Sin City. Now, we're talking serious controversy. That's a proposed $15 billion project, one that has raised the opposition of residents and farmers in those valleys as well as that of environmentalists. These groups are concerned that springs and groundwater could dry up as SNWA pulls water out of the region. In fact, many believe there's actually really no more ground water that could be taken from the area. So far, court battles have held up the project as a relative handful of residents have stood in the way of this major metropolis. We don't know yet if this project will become a reality. Altogether, what we've just described is a classic Western water story. A burgeoning city in a place where, climatically, this level of population growth seems improbable. But again, the history of Western water development and new and old strategies come together in a battle for the future of the desert. Is Las Vegas gambling too much in continuing to try to fuel its growth with such limited water supplies? Only time will tell. Thanks again for watching. [NOISE] [MUSIC]
