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Future Of Las Vegas Hangs In The Balance

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What is the future of Las Vegas? Does it have one past the next five or ten years?

Visitors to Las Vegas are not aware of a growing death threat that continues to loom . Will Las Vegas survive another ten years? Can something change the dangerous dynamics now in play? What is Vegas’ future?

Looming in the not to distant future is a dangerous threat to the survival of Las Vegas.  There are some things, that every city, town, or home must have to survive. They say that future wars may be fought not over gold or oil, but over water. And, water, the lack of it, may spell doom to our favorite desert city. This has been a front burner issue for years.

If Las Vegas, and other areas in Nevada, run out of water, they are dead. Water is the basis for life and Las Vegas can not live or grow without it. Today, the water issue is on the top of the list of political and social controversies taking place in Nevada.

Anyone who has been to Hoover Dam or the banks of Lake Mead in the last few years, can testify that the water level has dropped significantly. You can see the previous water line. Just a little over a year ago, in May of 2015, the water level of Lake Mead dropped to a 78 year all time low, below 1080 feet above sea level. This according to the Brookings Institute. You can read more of their perspective here. The death threat is real and it is not something where politicians can kick the can too far down the road.

In 2014, Tyler Durden posted an article titled, “Las Vegas Is Screwed”; The Water Situation “Is As Bad As You Can Imagine.” Durden’s perspective paints a dire picture for a future Las Vegas. And Durden has credentials. He says,

“It’s just going to be screwed. And relatively quickly,” warns Tim Barnett, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, telling The Telegraph, the situation in Las Vegas is “as bad as you can imagine”. After a devastating, 14-year drought drained the reservoir that supplies 90% of the city’s water, the apparently endless supply of water is an illusion as Las Vegas population has soared. As Barnett ominously concludes, “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.”

What can be done to remove this looming threat of drought and future destruction? A question that needs to be answered now is, can more water sources be found? Authorities have already built underground water tunnels beneath Lake Mead so that in a do or die crisis, every last drop of water could be sucked out of the bottom of the lake.  Not a pretty prospect and then at that point, water quality and safety could be an issue.

Residents already face watering restrictions and this is one step to delay what may be the inevitable. The death threat is real and it is still looming just ahead.

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