"We've left the era of abundance and entered the era of shortages," said Patricia Mulroy, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "It's an ugly, ugly period."
Managing water in the arid West has never been easy. But there always has been enough of it to go around. In fact, California, the only colossus in the region, has long been taking more than its allotted share from the Colorado River because no other neighboring state needed it. And when Lake Mead was filled decades ago, officials figured it would quench southern Nevada's thirst for centuries.
The gateway at Promontory, part of the Las Vegas development called Summerlin, features a converted fountain. A Photo held shows the fountain when it had water. Conservation measures during the drought prohibit decorative fountains outside the tourist corridor.
(Steve Marcus For The Washington Post)
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Then the population boom began. Today, Nevada and Arizona are the fastest-growing states in the country. Colorado and Utah are not far behind.
The pace of development around Las Vegas is dizzying. In the first six months of this year, officials here approved permits for the construction of 20,300 new homes -- a 67 percent increase from the same period last year. The population has doubled in the past decade, to 1.6 million. It grew by 60,000 people last year. About 37,000 came from other states.
"We can't build housing fast enough," said Monica Caruso, a spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association.
The city and its suburbs have long welcomed the mass migration. But it is plainly beginning to strain the water supply.
That Las Vegas gets almost no rain is hardly news. It is always one of the driest places in the country. But researchers examining geological patterns here over hundreds of years say that the past four decades may have been wetter than usual.
Since the 1960s, the region has occasionally averaged about seven inches of rain a year. The tally during the past few years -- about four inches -- is closer to its historical average.
So the drought may not be an anomaly. It may be normal.
And if that is true, growth has been guided in part by mistaken climate assumptions. An extended drought could profoundly affect how development proceeds.
"People are not facing reality," said Robert Ferraro, the mayor of nearby Boulder City. "We have to change our priorities. But I think it's going to be a hard sell. I don't see anything happening fast enough to thwart the problems we're going to have if we're headed into a major drought cycle. Every step being taken to conserve water is being overtaken by the number of people who keep coming."
But the mood here may be changing. A poll conducted last month by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that 75 percent of residents favored limits on home construction until the drought ends. Some community leaders are urging the federal government to stop auctioning to builders the large tracts of land that it owns around the valley.
So far, those requests have been ignored. Growth is as much an addiction in Las Vegas as gambling. It is not likely to stop.
"How do you just raise the drawbridge to a community that is attracting thousands of new people every month?" Caruso asked.
