Battling severe drought and increasing consumer demands, Las Vegas and its surrounding communities are facing a water shortage that is expected to only worsen. Is climate change to blame for the Colorado River's shrinking reservoirs? How is the region adapting to these challenges? In this E&E Special Report, reporter Lauren Morello examines the effect climate change is having on the water cycle of the western United States. Click here to view the special report.

Transcript

Lauren Morello: Las Vegas is an artificial oasis in the Mojave Desert, a town famed for taking everything to excess. Visitors from around the world come to try their luck in the casinos that line the Vegas Strip, but those who supply water to this city say they're worried that climate change is changing their odds. Las Vegas is now in the eighth year of a severe drought. Scientists say it could be a sign of drier conditions to come. Climate change is altering the water cycle in the western U.S., and water managers are trying to adjust.

Patricia Mulroy: Steve Wynn told me 15 years ago, "Pat, we sell virtual reality. What it is and what people think it is just aren't the same."

Lauren Morello: Patricia Mulroy is the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which serves Las Vegas and the surrounding area. The water comes from Lake Mead, one of two major reservoirs along the Colorado River. Eight years of drought have taken their toll on the lake. Its bedrock walls now bear a bathtub ring of mineral deposits that show the old high water mark more than 100 feet above the lake surface. Mulroy is now trying to plan for a day when the Colorado River may not be able to satisfy Nevada's demand for water.

Patricia Mulroy: There's nothing more frightening in the West than a shortage, nothing more frightening. I mean when, you put it in perspective, the Colorado River now either already is or soon will be servicing 30 million people. It also is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the country in terms of winter fruits and vegetables. It is an integral part of the country's food supply. There are large hydropower sources, and there are some precious natural resources that have to be preserved. Striking a balance between all those competing interests is difficult.

Lauren Morello: The massive Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs can store four times the Colorado's average flow helping communities cope when the river level is low. But a combination of climate change and recent population booms is reducing the margin of error. Terry Fulp has worked on the river for 20 years.

Terry Fulp: Think of a curve that's the supply end of the system over time and demand over time. And so, if I lined them all up, demand is increasing, and if the climate models are showing us the trend, supply is likely decreasing. Well, at some point, those curves cross, and we're right at that crossover point now.

Lauren Morello: With that in mind, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is planning for a drier future. The economic recession has hit Las Vegas hard, but the utility is spending nearly $1 billion to ensure they'll be able to siphon water from Lake Mead if the reservoir's level keeps falling. The massive intake pipe is known locally as the "third straw."

Patricia Mulroy: Right now it's the perfect storm. You have a daunting drought on the Colorado River that is forcing us to spend $800 million to build a third intake we never anticipated having to build, which is an excruciatingly difficult construction project. And you have connection charges that were 57 percent of the revenue for our capital funding plan have evaporated, and you have to balance the two, but you have to build a third intake. You don't have a choice. It's a project you cannot avoid building, not without endangering the community as a whole. So, yes, this is very difficult.

Lauren Morello: Scientists say there's a chance climate change could leave the Colorado River's reservoirs running dry by the middle of this century, and if Lake Mead's water level drops another 20 feet, Las Vegas water planners will be required by law to find other ways to meet the city's demand. But they're not waiting for a legal ruling. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is pursuing a once unimaginable plan to build a 300-mile-long pipeline to import groundwater from eastern Nevada's rural Snake Valley.

Patricia Mulroy: I'm not sure that today's definition of realistic is tomorrow's definition of realistic. I don't think anybody would have considered it realistic that we're about to lose the world's glaciers. I don't think the world would have considered it realistic that we were going to lose significant portions of our coasts. I don't think even we would have considered Katrina realistic had we had conversations 30, 40 years ago. I think it's going to very much require a change in what we consider realistic.