(CN) — How does one generate more water in a desert? For Pilar Harris, senior director for corporate social responsibility and government relations at Formula 1, the question arose while she planned for the Las Vegas Grand Prix’s first drag race around the city’s famed Strip.
A Formula 1 race typically requires tens of thousands of gallons of water to prepare the track — but “what if we could have a net zero water impact?” recalled Harris, who relocated to Vegas from New York to help organize the event last October. Facing an already tight timeline and many sleepless nights ahead, Harris knew if there was any way to offset the race’s water use, she had to find it fast.
The issue of water conservation is particularly consequential in Las Vegas, one of many communities that depends on water from the increasingly strained Colorado River. Today, the 1,450-mile-long river hydrates 40 million people living in the southwest U.S. and Mexico, including 30 Native American tribes and thousands of farmers who together cultivate 5.7 million acres of crops.
As more people than ever depend on the Colorado River, less and less flows downstream each year. Scientists have recorded a 20% decrease in river water over the last 100 years and anticipate meeting just 80% of the average this year. Looking to the middle of the century, scientists warn the river may continue shrinking by as much as 30% by 2050.
Cities like Las Vegas are increasingly having to ask how they’re going to deliver enough water to fulfill everyone’s needs. The obvious answer is to use less. That looks like communities cutting out decorative grass, installing more efficient toilets and limiting swimming pool sizes.
As reservoir levels drop, those conversations become harder. Just two years ago, reservoirs in Lakes Mead and Powell threatened to fall low enough to cut off hydroelectric power generated by the dams. Fallow fields and residential water restrictions soon followed.
Further complicating matters is the wide variety of stakeholders who have all laid claim to Colorado River water. On paper, the water should be divided evenly between the upper basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico) and those in the lower basin (California, Nevada, Arizona). The lower basin has historically used more than its allotted share, while the upper basin hopes to increase its water use in the coming years to support a growing population.
Both basins are making sacrifices, beginning with regulating outdoor water use and encouraging more water efficient homes. In dry years, some upper basin farmers see their taps shut off, while lower basin users spent the last decade cutting an astounding 2 million acre-feet from their annual water budget. Every drop counts, and adapting to future scarcities will require still more reductions.
Faced with this parched reality, some have started dreaming of a future where the West generates water.
“We have to think about how we start creating new water,” Adel Hagekhalil, chief executive for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told Courthouse News. Hagekhalil manages water access for 19 million individuals in and around San Diego and Los Angeles.
He made that pitch to Colorado River Water Users Association members at the group’s annual meeting in December. While other stakeholders compared notes on water efficiency and pledged cuts, Hagekhalil foresees a limit to what people are willing to give up.
“We have farmers that need more water. We have tribes that need more water, and we can’t leave anyone behind,” Hagekhalil told others at the meeting to mixed responses. “We keep fighting over cuts, but we have to think about how we adapt. We cannot be victims to hydrology.”