|
Speaking of running out of water...
In today's paper there was a George Will Editorial where he writes about Las Vegas using much more water than it has. I'm getting figures from his article here:
The area gets only 4.3 inches of water a year. Some scientists think that, based on tree rings, the past 100 years was unusually wet, and are expecting this current "dry era" to be the worst in 500 years.
Las Vegas gets 85% of its water from Lake Mead, which has dropped 74 feet in two years and is at 63% of capacity.
130,000 people in 1964.
2,000,000 by end of decade.
I really don't know what other options they have for water, but money is, as always, an issue. Money is largely spent on roads, housing foundations and other objects of sprawl. Health-care for the elderly suffering from respiratory illness due to traffic congestion and constant construction is not cheap. Add to this that almost half of the population is retired or almost retired, that is even more money they are not getting.
I expect people will be hearing more about water-shortage issues as our population explodes as the earth gets drier. I for one feel fortunate to live in the Great Lakes region, right in the middle of the world's largest fresh water source.
Posting this made me thirsty.
|