New Mexico Town On Brink Of Zero Drinking Water
As source water grows ever-scarcer throughout the U.S., a Southwestern city now faces the very real prospect of running out of drinking water completely.
“The city of Las Vegas, New Mexico is set to run out of drinking water in September, thanks to pollution and debris from the largest wildfire in state history,” Gizmodo reported.
That recent wildfire contaminated the city’s main drinking water source, the Gallinas River, as well as one of the city’s two backup sources. And the last remaining source of acceptable drinking water, the Bradner Reservoir, has dropped 13 feet due to increased consumption, prompting consumption restrictions and the prediction that local water sources could dry up completely in the near future.
“The limits in water are seen everywhere in the city: restaurants are only serving water upon request, people are showering using buckets, outdoor swimming pools can’t be refilled, and lawns are not allowed to be watered,” according to Gizmodo. “Federal emergency services are trucking in fresh water to the region, while a state emergency declaration has allowed Las Vegas to get funds to pay for a water treatment system… But it’s only a temporary measure, designed to buy time.”
The restrictions, federal water deliveries, and investment in a new treatment systems may all become instructive solutions in a region that finds itself hitting new drought milestones on a regular basis. More than 98% of the Southwest is experiencing drought, prompting billions of dollars in resiliency investment and unprecedented changes to source water allocation. In Las Vegas, at least, it seems that the work prompted by this crisis may make the water system more resilient to these ongoing challenges in the future.
“The silver lining for me is the most permanent solution to this is to replace our water treatment facility and improve some of our infrastructure,” said Las Vegas Mayor Louie Trujullo, per CNN. “That’s still a ways away, but it’s within grasp now.”
To read more about how drinking water systems across the country grapple with drought, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.