I am Mr. Beat
and this is water.
I love drinking it.
mmmm
In fact, I drink it every day, and you should, too, since...we all need it to survive and stuff.
But some places of the world don't have much water.
You know, like in deserts.
And yet, people still find a way to live in deserts, in some of the driest places on earth.
In fact, some of the largest cities in the world are smack dab in the middle of a giant desert.
One such city is one of my favorite places to visit. Las Vegas.
2.2 million people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Every day, these 2.2 million people all need to drink water, bathe in water, wash their stuff with water, water their plants and lawns, and even play in water.
The average household in Vegas uses around 222 gallons (840 liters) of water per day.
So that’s 489 million gallons (1.9 billion liters) for everyone per day.
That’s a lot of water needed in a city that gets just over 4 inches, or 10 cm, of rain each year.
And recently, the city suffered its longest drought on record- a period of 116 straight days without rain.
So where the heck does Las Vegas get its water?
How can all of this continue to exist?
Especially something like this in one of the driest places on earth?
Well most of the water Las Vegas gets originated here….the Colorado River.
A river that supplies water for...you know...just seven states in the country?
No, I’m not joshing you. That one river is the lifeblood of these seven states.
Because they all rely on the same river, they all signed an agreement called the Colorado River Compact, and it divided up the water from the river in this way.
This agreement gave 97 billion gallons of water per year for Nevada.
At the time the agreement went into effect, 1928, this was way more water than Las Vegas needed.
Heck, it had less than 5,000 people living there back then.
In 1935, the U.S. government completed the Hoover Dam, which then created the largest reservoir in the United States, Lake Mead.
Over the past few decades, however, Lake Mead has started to go dry due to the recent 20-year long drought in the American Southwest and increased demand from Vegas.
The lake hasn’t reached full capacity since 1983, and is currently at about 40% capacity, meaning it’s now technically the second-largest reservoir in the United States after nearby Lake Powell.
See that bathtub ring? That’s how high the water used to be.
Back in 2008, two researchers predicted Lake Mead would completely run out of water by 2021 if the drought continued and people in Vegas didn’t dramatically cut back on water.
Since 2008, Vegas residents HAVE dramatically cut back on water, and the drought overall hasn’t affected the area as badly, but the Southern Nevada Water Authority has lately looked to other possible sources for water just in case Lake Mead DOESN’T make it.
For years, they have been trying to create a pipeline system to get groundwater from central and eastern Nevada to southern Nevada.
However, they have faced sharp resistance to the proposed idea, and it doesn’t look like that pipeline system is going to be happening any time soon.
So another option is taking water from the eastern United States and redirecting IT to Southern Nevada, probably from the Great Lakes.
Imagine one long pipe directing water from the Great Lakes to Las Vegas.
Another option is take water from California’s shore line.
Now, that water is too salty to use, but by building a desalination plant or two or three, that seawater could be converted and shipped to Las Vegas for personal use.
Obviously, those two plans would require massive amounts of energy and would be very, very expensive.
For now, Las Vegas is making it work.
To find out more about how Las Vegas is both conserving water and looking for additional ways to get water, check out my friend Jacob’s video over on his channel Jacobslifeinvegas.
His channel is pretty much the go to source for me regarding anything related to Las Vegas.
Be sure to subscribe while you’re over there.
Around 700 million people around the world don’t have regular access to fresh water.
But it’s important to remember that entire cities can run out of water.
Cape Town, South Africa recently got worldwide attention for nearly running out of water, and Las Vegas could be next.
Unless the drought in the American Southwest and Rocky Mountains ends, or billions of dollars are poured in to shipping water to the city, it could be a city on the brink of disaster.
Whether we live in the desert, or even in a city close to lots of fresh water, we all need to pay close attention to how Las Vegas manages its water.
The lessons learned there can only help us all as water becomes an increasingly valuable resource.
You should try this stuff. It's pretty good.
Thanks to Jacob from Jacobslifeinvegas for supporting me
and for collaborating with me for this episode.
His video is linked below.
Do YOU live in Las Vegas or another desert city?
Are you afraid that your city is going to run out of water?
What is your city doing to manage its water? Let me know in the comments below.
I'd really like to hear from you. Thanks so much for watching!