I hope you forgot the sarcasm tag.
The following map is for transmission lines. It does not include trunk, distribution, nor sewers or water. If you were not being sarcastic, you need to get out more.
Posted on 07/01/2014 7:14:58 PM PDT by Lorianne
Outside Las Vegas’s Bellagio hotel tourists gasp in amazement as fountains shoot 500ft into the air, performing a spectacular dance in time to the music of Frank Sinatra.
Gondolas ferry honeymooners around canals modelled on those of Venice, Roman-themed swimming pools stretch for acres, and thousands of sprinklers keep golf courses lush in the middle of the desert.
But, as with many things in Sin City, the apparently endless supply of water is an illusion. America’s most decadent destination has been engaged in a potentially catastrophic gamble with nature and now, 14 years into a devastating drought, it is on the verge of losing it all.
“The situation is as bad as you can imagine,” said Tim Barnett, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “It’s just going to be screwed. And relatively quickly. Unless it can find a way to get more water from somewhere Las Vegas is out of business. Yet they’re still building, which is stupid.”
The crisis stems from the Las Vegas’s complete reliance on Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir, which was created by the Hoover Dam in 1936 - after which it took six years to fill completely.
It is located 25 miles outside the city and supplies 90 per cent of its water. But over the last decade, as Las Vegas’s population has grown by 400,000 to two million, Lake Mead has slowly been drained of four trillion gallons of water and is now well under half full. Mr Barnett predicts it may be a “dead pool” that provides no water by about 2036.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I’m in Vegas right now. It was well over 100 today, but somewhat humid, if you can believe it. When I looked eastward, you could see impressive clouds forming over Lake Mead. It was kinda sad seeing all that lake water just evaporating and never coming back.
They said that most of the water from the hotels is reused. Regardless, I would imagine that all the water once treated is reintroduced into the water shed.
Here in the great lakes region, we treat our sewer water and run off and reintroduce it into the lakes. The water in the Great Lakes water shed is protected by an international treaty with Canada that limits the amount of water that can be removed from the water shed.
The water in the Great Lakes water shed is protected against removal by a several international & inter state treaties. You can not pipe any water out of the water shed. There are even limits to how much of the water can be bottled and sold outside of the area.
Among them are: The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, an environmental treaty between the United States and Canada, signed 1972.
Great Lakes Charter, an environmental agreement between eight US states and two Canadian provinces, signed 1985
Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, an environmental agreement between eight US states and two Canadian provinces, signed 2005.
Great Lakes Compact, an interstate compact among the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, first signed 2007.
All of these treaties saw long ago the likelihood that the growing South West and Southern states of the U.S. would become desperate for water resources and these treaties where designed specifically to eliminate any possibility that the water from the water shed would be removed for the aid of outside areas.
In other words. They are SOL at getting at the Great Lakes water. Of course at some point they will all get thirsty enough to simply move to where the water is.
if vegas goes down, dirty harry goes down.
It is kind of hard to drum any sympathy. I’m really trying too. This tab on my browser has been open for some time and I still can’t feel sorry for Mob Casinos and brothels.
Didn't think I needed one.
Sorry. It seemed series and hugh on first read.
You underestimate the cost of piping and non-stop pump stations.
A lesson learned is staring us in the face—Lake Mead! Such a diversion would also impact levels in the Great Lakes as now water would be diverted for use all along the way. Moreover, such a move encourages the same mistakes by now taking away any hesitation/barriers to moving people into areas they should not originally have been. So now what you do is simply postpone the problem until it affects the Great Lakes. Sorta like borrowing money off the backs of future generations—they get stuck with the bill.
In California's desperately dry Central Valley, water prices volume use (irrigation) have risen to $2,200 an acre-foot. An acre foot is 10,344 barrels. That makes "expensive" water 21¢/barrel.
http://news.yahoo.com/dry-california-water-fetching-record-182119533.html
Pipelines moving products like crude oil typically charge $5 for a distance half the way from Lake Superior to Las Vegas.
Gee. Build a city in a desert. Run out of water. Didn’t see that one.
It's coming back, just in New Mexico and Colorado. It will eventually find it's way back to Lake Mead.
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