The West Is Trading Water for Cash. The Water Is Running Out
Desert farmers along the Colorado River are striking lucrative deals with big cities. But not everyone comes out a winner.
Receding water lines are seen along the shore of Lake Mead in this aerial photograph taken above Boulder City, Nevada, in 2015. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is building a three-mile (five-kilometer), $817 million tunnel under Lake Mead to retain access to its Colorado River supply as the reservoir declines to 40% of capacity.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergWhen it comes to global warming’s one-two punch of inundation and drought, the presence of too much water has had the most impact on U.S. agriculture this year, with farmers in the Midwest swamped by flooding throughout the Mississippi Basin.
But in the Southwest, it’s the increasing lack of water that’s threatening the agricultural economy, as well as the welfare of 40 million Americans and part of the food supply for the entire nation.