Water Crisis: Las Vegas “Is Going to be Screwed. And Relatively Quickly”
billj 02.20.15
The news out of the American Southwest continues to worsen. This drought is going to change everything, not tomorrow, and not next year, but at some point in the next few years. Before the decade ends, we’ll probably see climate refuges and the beginning of mass migrations.
The Colorado is essentially a dying river. Ultimately, Las Vegas and our civilization in the American Southwest is going to disappear, like the Indians did before us,” said Rob Mrowka, a Las Vegas-based scientist at the Centre for Biological Diversity…
“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.
We’re feeling it where I live in a big way. Not nearly as bad as Vegas and LA, but it’s bad. If you want a vision of the future, look at Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the taps are running dry.
My guess is like running out of water is like running out of money: at first it happens slowly, then all at once.
