On a related note...
The race to stop Las Vegas from running dry - Telegraph
However, Las Vegas still uses 219 gallons of water per person per day, one of the highest figures in the US. In San Francisco the figure is just 49 gallons.
Most of that water is used to sprinkle golf courses, parks and lawns so the water authority has declared war on grass, paying homeowners to remove it from their gardens at the rate of $1.50 per square foot.
So far 165 million square feet of turf has been destroyed. Laid end to end in an 18-inch strip it would stretch 90 per cent of the way around the Earth.
While we're on this witch hunt, lets don't bring that home and mention the bricktown canal and fountain, Oklahoma River impounded for aesthetics and recreation, central park turf and water features, if any, and whitewater facility. < I voted for and/or support all of those.Outside Las Vegas’s Bellagio hotel tourists gasp in amazement as fountains shoot 500ft into the air, performing a spectacular dance in time to the music of Frank Sinatra.
Gondolas ferry honeymooners around canals modelled on those of Venice, Roman-themed swimming pools stretch for acres, and thousands of sprinklers keep golf courses lush in the middle of the desert.
How many golf courses in the metro?
Lets look at it this way. How many people living downtown don't have a yard at all? Now if each of those people watered an average size lawn would that be more or less water than what is in the canal?
I don't know what to say then - most water is used to make the ground wet. If we can't correct that through zoning and land-use planning then why the hell do we even have zoning and land-use planning? Saying that the canal and urban parks are the problem is like someone trying to make their house payment by cutting back on appetizers at dinner. You can't get there from here.
False
The maximum height for the water cannon is 240 feet.Outside Las Vegas’s Bellagio hotel tourists gasp in amazement as fountains shoot 500ft into the air, performing a spectacular dance in time to the music of Frank Sinatra.
It does matter. Holes in a story discredits the story. California receives a lot of water from the Colorado for 300 rice farms....incredible they grow rice in an arid state.
My question ? Why build another expensive deeper 'straw' when only an extension would be needed on the straw that is about to suck air ? My sister lives in Vegas and I hear all kinds of stories about water.
Lots of politics in play.
NVM -- article already posted.
The canal is filled once every 3-4 years when it is drained and cleaned. It uses well water for replenishment when necessary, but generally rain does all of the necessary replacement of evaporated water. Like the canal, the Oklahoma River probably loses a small amount due to evaporation, but that is a very small amount, probably not much more than it lost already when it was burbling through the ditch before it was dammed up. None of the water is used elsewhere; it eventually makes it downstream as it would have without intervention. This is a very different situation than water impounded for drinking water and other uses, and siphoned off of the source.
From the article:
We have our water projects for similar aesthetic and recreational purposes. It looks great to have water in the Oklahoma River and not a dry river bed with weeds growing in it most of the year more like what is normal without intervention. The canal is nice and lush compared to what was there before. That was the intent.
Gondolas ferry honeymooners around canals modelled on those of Venice, Roman-themed swimming pools stretch for acres, and thousands of sprinklers keep golf courses lush in the middle of the desert.
But, as with many things in Sin City, the apparently endless supply of water is an illusion.
Water is water, from a city well, run off or what have you as the source. The planned use for the water for these projects is and was for aesthetics and recreation. It all could be used for other purposes. I'm not saying we should, I'm saying it's a choice made to use it like it is being used.
I see no one wants to get near the same issues with golf courses we have in common.
I wonder if our central park would be successful if it were xeriscaped?
If it was up to me I would have to reconsider if Central Park should at exist at all, for a lot more reasons than water consumption.
Yards are evil. Cars are evil. Houses are evil. Lets all agree to live in tents and drink rain water.
Yesterday I mowed my lawn in the 95° heat in anticipation of the rain today, but I had a glass of water afterwards. Sorry, I am a terrible person...
Fair enough. Allow me to rephrase it. You shouldn't live in OKC and landscape like you live in the rainforest.
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