Las Vegas Looks Beyond the Colorado To Slake Its Thirst
Las Vegas is not known as a dry town but 20 years of booming growth has left it parched. The drought-wracked desert city has been the nation’s fastest growing for over a decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Las Vegas Valley has added 480,397 new residents since 2000, the population equivalent of Oakland, Calif. Jeff Hardcastle, Nevada’s state demographer, expects another 1,548,010 residents, or 82.5% more people than today, by 2026. Newcomers have local officials scrambling to meet the region’s water needs, which the Southern Nevada Water Authority now estimates at 400,000 acre-ft more annually by 2025.
“We have had a series of record years, virtually unending growth since 1983,” says Ron Lynn, building director for Clark County Development Services. “This cycle starts with residential building, which drives commercial expansion.”