So far we’ve explored a lot about the history of Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam. We saw how men from across the country moved to the desert and lived in shantytowns just so they could make a . The dam itself caused a lot of problems for populations but it did provide a region incapable of supporting cities the size of Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Angeles the chance to do so. Now we know that the water that those men worked so hard to provide 80 years ago has been abused. The water is not being abused by some faceless corporations but is actually being abused by the .

Now, in the face of the worst drought and the lowest water reserve levels in the city’s history, many citizens are starting to take action and conserve water. The city has recently been having success with its “cash for grass” program which pays residents for every square foot of grass they replace with rocks or with eco-friendly turf. In fact, since 2003, Las Vegas has successfully paid its nearly $200 million to remove about 165.6 million square feet of grass from their lawns and in front of their businesses. I think Paul Robbins, the director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin summed it up best when he said, “The era of the lawn in the west is over.” And this could not be more true since it is now illegal for new developments in Las Vegas to have grass front lawns, instead they must use synthetic turf.

Those who choose to still have their lawns have to follow a strict watering .  Between May 1st and October 1st it is illegal to water your lawn between 11 am and 7 pm. Residents who do not follow the schedule or have leaky sprinklers are fined. Fines can range anywhere from $80 to $5,120. Yet despite all this, they still recommend that residents water their lawns four times per week during the summer. You can also be subject to a fine if while watering your lawn, some water gets on the sidewalk or in the street.

And these rules do not apply to the many golf courses that litter Las Vegas (although they now have to operate within a water budget). According to Charles Fishman, the author of The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water a single hole on a Vegas golf course requires 2,507 gallons of water (Fishman 67). That means that every time one golfer steps to a tee on a Vegas golf course, 139 gallons of water were needed to prepare for one golfer on one hole (Fishman 67). These figures were taken from one golf course, Angel Park which according to Fishman, represents a breakthrough.  Fishman writes, “Since 2001, Angel Park has irrigated exclusively with recycled wastewater…using four times the recycled water that Mission Industries (a Las Vegas mechanical company) uses, and its buying it directly from a Las Vegas city sewage treatment plant” (Fishman 67). In 1996, Angel Park was using 644 million gallons of purified drinking water on their golf courses every year, which isenough to provide adequate water to a town of 12,000 (Fishman 67). So although these golf courses do not represent the ideal model of sustainability, they do show that it is possible to cut down on purified drinking water use.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation of the Lower Colorado Region (one of the many government agencies tasked with monitoring water levels in Lake Mead), the average elevation of the water for March 2014 was 1,101.7 feet. And according to the Department of the Interior, the water elevation levels in Lake Mead are estimated to drop to around 1,080 feet in April 2015. This would  put the elevation levels dangerously close to the 1,075 feet mark. Once the water elevation lowers below 1,075 feet, there are many downstream cutbacks. Once water levels dip below 1,075 feet, there are questions about the hydroelectric power generation at the Hoover Dam, affect regional power prices and affect the pumps that move water for irrigation according to Matt Niemerski, the director of the nonprofit environmental group American Rivers.

I once had a teacher in high school who had a poster of a dangerous avalanche with the caption, “No one snow flake believes it is at fault for causing the destructive avalanche” and I think the same could be said of Las Vegas’ water use. Although no one single person or golf course believe they are responsible for the low levels in Lake Mead, they are all responsible. Their individual water use might not have an impact on Lake Mead’s water elevation but their collective water use definitely does. Next week we will explore the drastic solutions some Las Vegas politicians are considering in the face of the looming water crisis.

Bibliography

Holthaus, Eric. The Thirsty West: What Happens In Vegas Doesn’t Stay in Vegas. <

United States Dept. of the Interior. (2014). Lake Mead at Hoover Dam, Water Elevation (feet). Retrieved from <

Snider, Annie. August 16, 2013. Colorado River, Drought Forces First Ever Cutbacks in Lake Mead Water Deliveries. <

Fishman, Charles. (2011). The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. Simon and Schuster.