Six states get their water from the Colorado River and its tributaries: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
The hot and dry city of Las Vegas draws 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River via Lake Mead. It is expected that within a year's time water levels will drop 17 feet, so it's no wonder officials in the Southwest are getting worried about access to clean water. Unfortunately, not enough people are paying attention to the impending water crisis, which some activists are labeling water wars.
If water levels drop to the point of causing a water shortage, what course of action might these six states take? Certainly they will be asking, Who owns the water? and wondering if the people living upstream have the right to block the flow of water to people living downstream.
I'm hoping that the new documentary - Last Call At The Oasis - directed by filmmaker Jessica Yu, will bring more attention to the looming crisis.
Yu spoke to Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy for the film about the controversy over her agency's plan to siphon groundwater from the Colorado River across the eastern part of the state. Similar water pipeline projects are being debated across the U.S. and the world.
In one of her scenes, Mulroy says it is now a question of when - not if - Lake Mead will shrink low enough to silence the generators at Hoover Dam and shut down one of the water intake areas that serves Las Vegas. She predicts that when that day comes, "it's going to be about Western survival."
Are water wars coming to your area?
Check your local theaters for Last Call At The Oasis.
Other great documentaries:
Watershed - produced by Robert Redford and his son, James: http://jamesredford.com/all-films/producing-current-films/watershed/
Tapped - http://www.tappedthemovie.com/
Running Dry - http://www.runningdry.org/world.html
Blue Gold - http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/
Flow - http://www.flowthefilm.com/
Poisoned Water - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/
Source: Desert USA
Source: Las Vegas Review Journal
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