Lost in Las Vegas: A Search of Irony in the City of Excess

I spent three days in Las Vegas recently. I was there for the first annual WaterSmart Innovations Conference, sponsored by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the recently formed Alliance for Water Efficiency, EPA WaterSense, and several other sponsoring and partnering organizations and agencies.

The conference and trade show were great. They really were. I saw more than a dozen new products­ — some really cool — that you'll be hearing about in EBN and GreenSpec over the coming months. It was one of the best conferences — from a learning standpoint — that I've attended in recent years. PDFs of all the PowerPoint presentations given at the sessions are available.

But, I've gotta say, I'm still trying to recover from Las Vegas.

For starters, the casino/conference facilities are designed so that, wherever you're going, you have to pass by banks of slot machines on the casino floor. They're hoping, of course, that us attendees will be tempted by the flashing lights, ringing bells, and buxom waitresses in bunny suits delivering cocktails. You kind-of expect that. What I didn't expect (or had blocked out since my last visit to the city some 15 years ago) was that nearly everyone smokes. I've been spoiled in recent years to find most public spaces smoke-free. Apparently the newer casinos have better ventilation systems, so the air isn't quite as bad.

On a larger scale, though, what got to me is the consumption and excess that is embodied in just about everything Las Vegas. I spent one night wandering about two miles down Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip), checking out the casinos, stretch Hummers (and a lime-green Lamborghini), street-side bars, fountains, and the glaring neon and LED advertising that confront — affront — you everywhere.

I made it back to my hotel after my escapades and, the next night, was content to stick closer to home and watch a documentary that was being premiered at the conference, The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?, which was produced by Jim Thebaut and narrated by actress Jane Seymour. This is a powerful film that makes the case that we're heading off a cliff relative to water availability in the Southwest. Watch this film if you get the chance. Dozens of experts, from U.S. Senators and Congressmen to scientists (even Dr. Gene Whitney, science advisor to President Bush) to water agency leaders argue convincingly that we're nearing a crisis — a crisis that could make today's "energy crisis" seem like child's play.

Lake Mead, which supplies 90% of Las Vegas's water, is less than half full today. Photo: Ken Dewey. Click for bigger.

So here I was watching a film about how there isn't enough water to go around. And I was sitting in a Las Vegas casino theater watching it. Las Vegas is America's driest city. In an average year, the city receives four inches of rain. So far in 2008 they were still not up to the one-inch mark for the year. It's dry! The city gets 90% of its water from Lake Mead, the nation's largest man-made reservoir. One of the Colorado River reservoirs, Lake Mead is running dry. There's a white "bathtub ring" around the reservoir walls that's now ten stories high — showing how much the water level has dropped in the last couple decades. Now at 48% of capacity, a study came out last year from Scripps Institute saying that there's a 50% chance that the reservoir will be functionally empty by 2021 — a scant 13 years from now. And meanwhile, Las Vegas keeps growing; the city's population has doubled just since 1995!

Photos: Alex Wilson. Click for bigger.

Sobered by the film and worn out from conferencing, the next morning (my last in the city), I woke early and went out for a long walk, leaving the South Point Casino and Hotel behind and exploring the sprawling subdivisions of the south end of Las Vegas where the South Point is located. The photos here are a few that I took that morning.

It was refreshing to be outdoors, but sobering to see and experience the absolute dryness. We talk about xeriscaping (low-water landscaping), but any place I saw a sprig of green I knew that I could look a little harder and see an emitter from an irrigation system. Though the Southern Nevada Water Authority, with one of the most aggressive water conservation programs in the country, offers $1.50 per square foot to homeowners or business owners to replace irrigated turf with water-efficient landscaping (with no limits on the conversion area and payment!), I still saw lots and lots of bright green turf.

For more on our water crisis and what to do about it, take a look at the three-part series we've run this year in EBN. The first article addresses demand-side solutions (reducing the amount of water we use in and around buildings), the second covers alternative water sources (including graywater, rainwater, and air conditioner condensate), and the third covers policies and what we need to do to effectively reduce our water consumption. These three articles are all free on our site.

—Alex Wilson