Man the biggest water user in the desert is turf. Turf uses a lot of irrigation and uses spray irrigation, so what weve done here is use artificial turf. Youre never going to be able to achieve the look of back east or the look of, say, california, with subtropical plants, but our landscapes are still lush and use about 30 of what the subtropical landscape with turf would use. Las vegas has adopted a drought tolerant ordinance. Were using less water today than we used five years ago, despite over 300,000 new residents. I think its a Pretty Amazing example as to how a town can really turn on a dime if theres the political will and if the public gets behind it. Narrator even the casinos and resorts have adapted to efficient water use. Mulroy the Las Vegas Strip uses only 3 of all the water that we deliver. And when you think about it, its the largest economic driver in the state, the largest employer, bar none. They knew they had to go the extra mile. And theyve embraced conservation. An
And everything thats occurred in Southern Nevada has been with Colorado River water. Without it, the west as you know it today couldnt exist. Narrator to sustain their growing community with its limited supply, las vegas learned to be extremely efficient. Mulroy this is a desert, and it has its own beauty, but you have to get beyond what youre used to. As long as people recognize theyre moving to the desert and give up this notion that they have to bring eastern vegetation with them and make the necessary adaptations in their own life, desert communities can continue to live. Man the biggest water user in the desert is turf. Turf uses a lot of irrigation and uses spray irrigation, so what weve done here is use artificial turf. Youre never going to be able to achieve the look of back east or the look of, say, california, with subtropical plants, but our landscapes are still lush and use about 30 of what the subtropical landscape with turf would use. Las vegas has adopted a drought toler
They have source supply issues, they have serious questions about how theyre going to accommodate additional growth in their communities. Melosi if we can find alternatives, we can preserve a water supply. Conservation of water is a way of generating more water. Allbee we think that a household can actually reduce its water usage by about 30 . And thats hugely important in terms of the amount of infrastructure that communitys going to require. Narrator las vegas is one of the fastgrowing areas in the country. Its a relatively new city under constant construction. But because its in the arid mojave desert, the challenge of las vegas is supply. Woman all the growth and everything thats occurred in Southern Nevada has been with Colorado River water. Without it, the west as you know it today couldnt exist. Narrator to sustain their growing community with its limited supply, las vegas learned to be extremely efficient. Mulroy this is a desert, and it has its own beauty, but you have to get
Others have concerns about the sustainability of water supplies. Allbee its not just about the sustainability of the assets, its about the sustainability of our water resources. Parts of this country that thought of themselves as water rich 20, 30 years ago, now are discovering that they really are not water rich, they have source supply issues, they have serious questions about how theyre going to accommodate additional growth in their communities. Melosi if we can find alternatives, we can preserve a water supply. Conservation of water is a way of generating more water. Allbee we think that a household can actually reduce its water usage by about 30 . And thats hugely important in terms of the amount of infrastructure that communitys going to require. Narrator las vegas is one of the fastgrowing areas in the country. Its a relatively new city under constant construction. But because its in the arid mojave desert, the challenge of las vegas is supply. Woman all the growth and everythi
They had an application on my desk. But when someone has no funding, usually they sit and wait. The problem is, the amount of money given in the federal budget and the state budget is just not enough to fund infrastructure. We have a 200 million backlog on my desk alone. And that would be our entire states allocation for 4, 5, or 6 years. Schwartz the usda asked that i go to herminie and provide an independent evaluation of the problems to determine if it was severe enough to warrant funding. Ive worked in a lot of communities in pennsylvania, ive seen a lot of things that were pretty startling, however, the trip to herminie absolutely, um. Astounded me. I wrote a letter to usda, saying that it was the worst thing id ever seen in pennsylvania and that if they could award funding, that they do so. And they did. They did. Over 15 million, grant and loan, for that project. Mcmillen and it took years to get funding. What kept this project going was the steadfastness of the community they k