Six weeks ago we highlighted how "*screwed*" Las Vegas is as the ongoing 14-year drought weighs on water levels. Today, AP reports, *Lake Mead - the main source of fresh water for Las Vegas and its 40 million visitors - just hit record low levels at 1080 feet. Most concerning - at 1,000 feet, drinking water intakes will no longer function and Las Vegas will go dry*. As analysts concluded previously, "unless it can find a way to get more water from somewhere, Las Vegas is out of business. Yet they’re still building, which is stupid."As AP reports,
*Once-teeming Lake Mead marinas are idle as a 14-year drought steadily drops water levels to historic lows. *Officials from nearby Las Vegas are pushing conservation, but are also drilling a new pipeline to keep drawing water from the lake.
Hundreds of miles away, *farmers who receive water from the lake behind Hoover Dam are preparing for the worst.*
...
*The lake has dropped to 1,080 feet above sea level this year* - down almost the width of a football field from a high of 1,225 feet in 1983.
A projected level of 1,075 feet in January 2016 would trigger cuts in water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada.
*At 1,000 feet, drinking water intakes would go dry to Las Vegas, a city of 2 million residents and a destination for 40 million tourists per year that is almost completely dependent on the reservoir.*
...
Bagnall, who owns Morningstar Farms in Coolidge, Arizona, *worries about the future of farming in the region. *Tighter supplies mean there will be less farming and fewer dollars going to agricultural services like fertilizer suppliers.
*"Eventually," he said, "the prices are going to hit the consumer. Sooner or later, it's got to go up. So it's just a domino effect."*
As we concluded previously,
One proposal is for landlocked Nevada to pay billions of dollars to build solar-powered desalination plants in the Pacific off Mexico, taking Mexico’s share of Colorado River water in exchange.
But Mr Mrowka said:* “The Colorado is essentially a dying river. Ultimately, Las Vegas and our civilisation in the American South West is going to disappear, like the Indians did before us.”*
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The bottom line - get there now, watch the fountains, drink the water, swim in the lake... (and sell your house) Reported by Zero Hedge 3 hours ago.