Dying For A Drink

摘要

When the planners of las Vegas peered into the future in 1950, they projected that the desert city's population-then 25,000-would be lucky to break 100,000 by the end of the century. As it turned out, they were off by a factor of 19, and as you leave the sizzling Strip-the iconic center of this metropolis of 1.9 million people-for the Lake Mead reservoir, 65 miles to the northwest, you can see the source of all that growth. In a city that receives just 4 in. of rain a year, residents in the sprawling housing developments where much of the Las Vegas population lives use an average of 165 gal. of water a day-and 90% of that comes from Lake Mead, the reservoir created by Hoover Dam in 1935.