How Las Vegas Exists in America's Driest Desert 

I'm really glad you brought this to light, a lot of people like to blame Lake Mead's decline on Las Vegas, but they don't realize that Las Vegas has been recycling their water for years. The reason why Lake Mead's water levels keep going down is because there isn't enough snowfall for the Colorado River along with California's very, very large water consumption for it's farm lands.

Growing up in Las Vegas, I didn't realize most cities didn't have casinos. The first time I realized most cities didn't have casinos was when I asked my parents where the strip was when I traveled to Seattle

The fact that Las Vegas has more tourists than Venice AND has a mini Venice inside of it is just incredible

As a water/wastewater engineer, it makes me very happy to hear of how efficient their water infrastructure is.

Never thought Las Vegas is actually a rather sustainable city (in terms of water). What a great inspiration for other cities!

Fun fact: One of the least profitable conferences hosted in Las Vegas was the 1986 gathering of the American Physical Society - hardly anyone gambled, presumably, because the physicists understood probability and statistics, and saw no benefit in gambling. It was an unmitigted disaster for the MGM grand.Financially it was the worst week they ever had. After the conference was over, the APS was politely asked never to return, not just by the MGM grand, but by the entire city of Las Vegas.

I went to Vegas in 2002. It's changed a lot since. The first and final men that died building the Hoover dam were father and son.

Growing up in Vegas, I used to study other major cities with Encyclopedias. One thing most major cities all have in common is that they rest on a body of water. A river, a lake, or an ocean. However Vegas is probably one of the most populated cities that does not

I thought I would see some decaying areas instead I bumped into quite a surprise. I'm very glad to know that Las Vegas is one of the most efficient cities in water recycling. In its specific case I don't know how long it will last, but I hope other cities located in deserts might look at the examples.

This is incredible. Imagine if Southern California could be this sensible with their water resources.

My great Grandmother moved into Vegas around 1950s. She's seen this city grown from it's eggling phase. She's still alive today, and you can literally ask her which street is connected to which, and even in her very old age, she knows exactly what's where, and how far away it is, and what cardinal direction it is.

As a Vegas resident it’s a frustrating struggle for water. We barely take up any of the lake, yet we’re cutting out water usage by taking our grass and replacing it with rock/turf, or running water normally by monitoring it. But other states aren’t taking nearly the amount of steps of preservation of lake mead than Las Vegas is.

I’ve gone to Las Vegas before in the night, and you can literally see Las Vegas pop up. It goes from extremely dark with almost no lights to an enormous amount of light. It was incredible the first time I saw it.

The water management is indeed an inspiration. As a Mexican, I can tell our large northern cities need to look for these solutions, because you know, our north is a desert. Monterrey has a major drought ongoing.

I'm born and raised in Las Vegas, and it's crazy when I was a kid there was less than a million people here, and now going into 2023 there's close to 3 million.

Vegas born and rasied! I've moved to other places and I always miss it. Now I'm in Denver and while I certainly do not miss the summers, I miss the food! Vegas has some of the best restaurants in the world. Yummy

Las Vegas has also restricted most decorative water like fountains. The famous fountains at the casino shown in the video use recycled water, and is able to avoid the restrictions because of that fact.

Las vegas resident here! Grew up here. People are always surprised when I tell them I know what direction I am traveling in by the color of the desert, and the type of mountains. Traveling west towards LA, the desert tends to get a brownish, reddish color. Traveling down to AZ, the desert stay almost reddish. Traveling up towards Reno, the desert is a greyish-brownish mix. It shocks my friends that living in vegas is more "rural" than urban for me lol And yes! Our water system is amazing. Growing up I definitely took for granted that you truly could just drink water out of *ANYWHERE*. It's always reusable and I definitely thought that was a thing worldwide.

I love the stance on decorative grass/lawns that the city has taken. I really hope that California and Arizona are taking notes, because they're not immune to the same problems...

I like the way he emphasizes on every single key word he speaks out to make sure everyone gets the importance of the information he's conveying

"Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter"

What a coincidence: I was just doing a design challenge in SimCity that called for building a city in a desert region called Cactus Canyon, which made me think of Las Vegas.

I was born in 1970 in Vegas and am a lifetime resident. It's great so many things are world-class now here and it's a true metropolitan city with an arts district, major sport teams, and many facets beyond the gaming industry...however, I still miss when it was much smaller in the 80's and 90's and around 300k residents. Cost of living was way cheaper, everyone knew each other or of each other, and it was a boom town with lots of small businesses and mom and pop operations away from the Strip. Almost all of the old-school shopping areas are either gone or have fallen on hard times, and the only casino on Las Vegas Blvd that still looks and feels the same is Circus Circus. Everything is very overpriced now from real estate to leisure activities. The crime rate has skyrocketed. However, the evolution of the city and it's growth has brought huge improvements in flood control for example (every street was a raging river or lake back in the day during a summer rainstorm)...but I miss the old Vegas from when I was younger and it will always be my favorite version of my hometown.

As an Arizonan, I’m happy to learn there’s a template like Las Vegas for the future

The bit about gambling made me think about a book I read. In it, a character goes to a big sci-fi convention in Las Vegas. He mentions that the convention wasn't producing a level of gambling that the casinos liked, because "it turns out, nerds understand statistics." The restaurants are happy with the convention, though, because "nerds tend to overtip."

Las Vegas is a role model for other American cities in water conservation! Places that don't have to worry about a lack of water, (like Canada) usually have horrible water sustainability.

I live in Las Vegas! It’s such a nice city (in most places) and have definitely seen the changes made to save water. I live in Summerlin, where a lot of new houses are being built and most of them have desert landscaping and it looks super great and is pretty low maintenance.

Thank you for making this video so much!! Idk, I feel like we, the residents in Vegas get blamed for the water crisis entirely, but having lived here since 1997, I can tell you with pride and confidence that wasting water is and has always been something we pay attention to a lot harder without even realizing it. broken sprinkler at some random park? Call it in. The new neighbor needs 15 more signatures per HOA guidelines? see who signed already before kindly sending them on their way w/o yours. I used to LOVE going to Lake Mead with my family as a little girl.. it breaks my heart seeing its current condition 💔💔

Las Vegas is practically in the middle of nowhere. You have to travel the desert for a long time before you hit civilization. Especially when crossing from California. You also get the chance to see the Ivampah solar farms out in the middle of the desert which is cool. They’re absolutely massive. You can spot them because there is a massive mirror in the center. Of course the city of lights needs an insane amount of power.

Phoenix is also a city much like Las Vegas. It shouldn't exist. It's LITERALLY in the MIDDLE of the Sonoran desert. The fact that it's the 5th largest city, and still growing is just stunning. Phoenix has declared a stage 1 water alert. This happens when an insufficient supply of water appears likely due to water system or supply limitations. People in the desert know that the most singular important THING to live is water. We know what happens when the Colorado dries up should it ever. It's going to be BAD. Phoenix recycles nearly all its wastewater, delivering it for use in agriculture, energy production, urban irrigation, aquifer recharge, and riparian wetland maintenance. It has plans for a 100 year water supply. It's not as INNOVATIVE as Las Vegas, but Southern Arizona cities are NOT just sitting around going "the Colorado isn't gonna dry up that's CRAZY." Desert dwellers are just built different. If anyone's gonna really FEEL first hand the effects of climate change, of drought, it's people in desert climates who rely on water. We're gonna know when something's up. Much sooner than people who live in places with fluctuating weather. It’s likely we will land in a Tier 2 shortage next year, which will mostly erase Central Arizona Project’s Non-Indian Agricultural (NIA) pool. For places like Buckeye, that's gonna be rough. But for places like Phoenix and Tucson, it won't be as bad until Tier 3 is reached. Sure we have water stored underground, but using that water is uncharted territory. And with how Lake Mead is, even with such a hardcore monsoon like we had last year, even deeper cuts than a Tier 3 shortage may soon be on the way, given how quickly Lake Mead is draining. Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson all have plans in place, and are implementing those plans even right now. However, as I did my own research, it looks like California is just kind of sitting around. Kind of embarrassing when it takes such a large allocation of the Colorado. All California has is this "CA Water Plan" nothing CONCRETE like how Phoenix is storing water underground, how Tucson has water stored underground for more than 5 years if us Tucsonans need to tap into it, and this is on top of FORTY FIVE years of keeping it underground. California, you need to do something NOW to preserve your water supply. You can't keep relying on a drying up Colorado River. Your mountain snowfall runoff won't work if the monsoons don't happen.

Vegas is my hometown it will always have a place in my heart even though the summers can reach over 115 degrees f. It’s not only strip and casinos. There are schools, suburbs, communities. My favorite thing to do on the summer nights when the sun sets i love to go to the park and feel the warm winds and lay on the grass. The food is also amazing

Thank you for pronouncing Nevada correctly. What a lot of people dont know os that casinos are not the only pla es to gamble. Go into a convenience store like 7-11? Yup. Slot machines. Every bar in town has what? Yup, slots. Hell, if you fly in you hear slots as you are getting off the plane cause of course our airpprt has slots. Oh ueah, most grocery stores have slots as well for gambling. Gotta say, having grown up in Vegas (moved here at 18 months in 1981)I can't see ever living any other place.

2:16 Geography &, early history of Las Vegas 5:35 Legalisation of gambling & construction of Hoover dam 8:04 Water supply (Colorado River Compact) 11:49 Incredible water-usage efficiency

In addition to all the water treatment, reuse, & efficiencies mentioned in this video, the Water Authority also pumps water from the valleys water table as well, especially during peak summer season. As little as 10% and as much as 25% of our water comes from underground aquifers. Most importantly, the SNWA has done us citizens well (no pun intended) in one other surprising way. They have been injecting & storing clean drinking water into a massive natural underground storage bank since the late 80’s & when river allocations were in surplus to the valley. Today they have saved over 360,000 acre feet of water, which is enough for the valley to survive off of entirely for about 1 1/2 years w/o any additional conservation efforts. That means we all will be able to keep our swimming pools full & the tourists will still get to see the fountain show at the Bellagio. Thank you Southern Nevada Water Authority! ;)

Ah, the classic 'rusty abandoned boat' shot this channel loves so much whenever the topic of water usage comes up.

I am super proud of Las Vegas and the people behind the conservation of water. The recycling methodology is super powerful. Genius! I just hope the Colorado compact will find a way to resolve the lower level of the water. I don't know how but I hope there is planning being done.

I live in Vegas - Landscapers are extremely busy with the demand of ripping up grass and either replacing it with rocks or turf. Also, something else that was literally just approved yesterday - there is now a limit on the size of pools one can have in their backyard.

I really enjoyed how you spent so much time focusing on the Colorado River as a whole and how all these other cities are affected. I live in LA and it’s a constant topic, I thought this video was just going to be about Vegas and loved that you showed how connected it all is. You’re right, we need to be more like Vegas!

Just 13 Mins... And it felt like an hour of Documentary. So Much Information/Content in such less time.Its amazing.

Wow. This was great. Full resolution audio and visuals. Rich with content and relevant information. Very well done.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” - Plato

This channel is just astounding. Not only the content itself but also the edition, the quality... everything. I insist on saying that the best YT geography channel is Real Life Lore. I watch your videos from Spain 🇪🇦 to improve my english

This is a detailed, uplifting video about a dire situation.

I drove through Vegas this summer. I had no idea how incredibly water efficient the city is, as well as how incredibly detail-oriented and far-sighted the city government has been in water efficiency. If only everywhere was like Vegas, then there wouldn't be any talk about a coming global water shortage.

My home

Hello from Vegas! I am so glad some body brought this up. Really tired of everybody only focusing on the obvious topic for Vegas. We are more than just gambling and other sins. We are losing our reliance on gaming and entertainment, and are expanding to other economic activities, while doing more than our part to conserve Lake Mead for future generations. Thank you so much for the recognition !

It's really weird in contrast with St George, Utah (just 2 hours east of Las Vegas) the lack of consideration. There are just too many golf courses

I lived there for 14 years, I left in 2019. I went to Hoover Dam one last time and said it's time to move. The water level had gone down so much since I moved there it was scary. I have friends with boats and the dock has moved at least 12 to 14 times since I moved there. I miss the humidity free weather, but it will be a ghost town if they don't stop building homes, stop in swimming pools, etc.

Las Vegas means “The Meadows” because of its natural springs fed by the tall mountains to the west. This was the initial source of water that sustained the indigenous tribes and the small original town and made it a water stop first for the Spanish Trail and then for the railroad. But without Hoover Dam and the Colorado River, Las Vegas would have never been able to increase to the size it is today. Also contributing to the rain shadow effect are 1) The California Coastal Range, 2) The mentioned 14,000 foot Sierra Nevada mountains, 3) The 11,000 foot Panamint Range west of Death Valley, and 4) The 11,000 foot Spring Mountains on the west side of the Las Vegas valley.

Happy that my city is doing something right! When I first moved here, I missed having a lawn so much! (I'm from Chicago so lawns were just standard). Now I appreciate my rocks and desert landscaping. It is quite beautiful in its own right. Plus I never have to trim it! Lol

So many insights in 1 short video. Great job!

Very informative, and probably among the most informative of this type I’ve seen. Thank you.

Love that you didn’t go the whole “oh humans shouldn’t live in deserts” routine which is a tired and not factual statement in the first place. Humans have lived in many of these places in the southwest for thousands of years. The current problem lies in people wanting their yards to look like an east coast yard (grass and water intensive non native plants) across the American southwest when it should actually mirror the natural landscape with naturally growing plants. This plus water recycling would resolve all water problems across the southwest for a long long time. Cool to hear you grew up in Nevada! -Phoenix resident

Las Vegas was the first time I had ever seen a road sign say *WARNING* have emergency water in the car and over half a tank of gas beyond this point, while driving.

I like how you added the AD at the end. Some put it at the beginning or middle but I’d prefer the end honestly. Nice video !

as someone who lives in las vegas, you made this sound a lot better than we really are

As much as I love Las Vegas I've wondered how is this desert town still in existence especially when it comes to water. Well now I have a better understanding on how they're handling the water. Thanks for the video!

Interesting that there is no mention of the natural springs that still supply drinking water to the city. Yes, the springs are not significant now but in early days, it was an oasis for travelers.

I moved from Boston to Las Vegas for a year, and I loved living there. It was cool seeing mountains in every direction

As a Vegas Vlogger, this video was awesome! Great quality and great shots. Thanks for sharing.

It's amazing how humans can live in almost every climate and thrive as well

Hats off to d water conservation department of Vegas...they r certainly a remarkable inspiration for all d cities in the world facing water deficit scenarios...As always awesome content mate..love from India 🇮🇳❤️

Right after you posted this video Las Vegas has been having the wettest Monsoon Season since 1999. Ironic

Despite the recycling there is still quite a bit of water that is used to water the parks, the pools and the golf courses. Would be curious to know how much water is actually recycled back to lake Mead. Due to heat the water also straight up evoporates into the air.

When we moved into our home in Monterey County, CA back in '95 we incrementally replaced our lawn with succulents. Why people think they need a mini golf course that they never use is beyond us.

I love living in Las Vegas!!! It’s not just tourists! We have a very awesome unique local culture! ❤️

I love Las Vegas! I lived there for over a decade. It's beautiful, great views of the mountains from almost anywhere in the valley, it's sunny most of the year, and there is so much beyond the gambling and nightlife! Great restaurants, great shopping, tons of great parks, skiing nearby, waterparks, the springs preserve, corn creek, Mt. Charleston, museums, exhibits, and beautiful master planned communities. As for water it's so great that Vegas is so good at conserving water. California needs to get on board with being better at conserving water.

Love your videos sir. Keep up the great work.

Real life lore is just one of those channels you can always expect quality content from no matter what, Keap it up man 👍

I actually researched Las Vegas for my conservation biology course, and I was rather shocked to find out just how efficient the city is. Of course, it should be mentioned that LV was not always this efficient, and it used to be about as wasteful as most would imagine, but then they started taking their conservation efforts, especially in regards to water, rather seriously. Sure, they have had their conservation efforts before, but what they have now is much more recent than most would think. Really, I was impressed at just how far LV was going to save on water, and I did my research back in the early 2010s, when much of what is in place now was, back then, either being discussed or had just started being implemented. The part that impressed me the most was the flora aspect, particularly in regards to lawns. Speaking personally, it was one of the things that my parents were adamant about when they bought the house that they finished raising me in - not that it had a lawn, but that it was not in an area with an HOA, which would have mandated by law that they maintain a picturesque green lawn. My parents were adamant about being able to live without an HOA. Yes, HOAs can sound good in theory, but as they are in practice, they are just completely horrible for homeowners, causing a lot of financial, legal, and environmental problems for anyone and everyone in such an area (and that is disregarding the racist origins and history of HOAs). As such, my parents _never_ put in the effort to maintain their lawn besides the occasional mowing (just so they can more easily spot snakes and other pests). Oh, and just to clarify, my parents raised me just outside San Antonio, Texas, and one does not need to do any digging to find out what the region - hell, the whole state - has been going through, especially lately. Learning that LV was essentially trying to extend my parents' approach to lawn maintenance (i.e. none at all) for the city's own suburbs threw me for a loop and in a shockingly pleasant way. I hope to see these efforts adopted all over the country, even if it is little more than a pipe dream at this point.

Lived there for 5 years during my enlistment at Nellis. Love the city.

A while back I lived in the frame @9:40 in a building that had not yet been built when that was filmed... in fact a lot of new buildings have been added to the skyline since then. It's interesting to see what all has changed.

Great video and I understand it was just about Las Vegas, but I feel like you should’ve mentioned the enormous effects of agriculture on the water supply. In most states in the southwest, agriculture accounts for around 80% of water use. If we could grow cotton in the south instead of the middle of the desert in arizona we would have plenty of water for future growth.

The town around the Hoover Dam is super interesting. It is like a 1930’s-40’s time capsule.

Thank you for a fair and informative video regarding Lake Mead and Las Vegas.

I was born, raised, and currently live in Las Vegas. In elementary school, they taught us to turn the faucet off while we were scrubbing out hands and brushing our teeth to save water, which I still do now at 23. The city spends millions on converting grass to desert landscaping by paying homeowners to have their lawns replaced. There are signs everywhere about how often you can water during each season: 1 day a week in winter, 3 days in fall and spring, and 6 days in the summer but only during the cooler hours, and NEVER ON SUNDAYS™. Each section of the city also has designated watering days for the week. Water conservation is a big thing around here, and I think the video does a great job of covering how and why we're so water conscious and efficient.

i live in las vegas and this is some great insight on what we have to deal with. don’t worry life is normal here

Flying into Vegas is crazy. Nothing but desert then all of a sudden this city comes into view.

One of the best summary on vegas! Bravo!

You make it seem as if the Mojave Dessert is completely inhospitable, but you forget to mention there’s a snowy mountain just 50 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip. Look up “Lee Canyon”, where people ski & snowboard there.

TLDR, the legalization of Gambling in Nevada and the creation of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead made Las Vegas possble.

For those who don't know, "Las Vegas" means "The Meadows" in Spanish.

I've been living in Vegas for 4 months now and it's been fun so far. Learning that there are more slot machines when vending machines was a culture shock for me who lived in the countryside for 20 years. I'm still learning new things about the city and it's very exciting!

Born and raised in Vegas, we are amazingly good at water conservation. It’s drilled into us from childhood.

Las Vegas is like one of those oasis cities you would see in a movie. Situated in the middle of nowhere but a somewhat nice place to stay.

I’m so glad more videos like this are coming out cause I’m so tired of people all over the United States blaming Las Vegas as the MAIN reason Lake Mead runs dry. When in reality all the states that depended on the Colorado would adopt some policies that Clark County uses & not snubbed the water districts projected water plans/proposals that informed them of available water in Lake Mead & revisited the water right allocations, we would be in a much better water situation (especially CA)

You said that Vegas is forward thinking huh? Wish that applied to the highways out here.

Fun fact : Macau with only around 650.000 residents had 5 times more in annual gambling revenue than Las Vegas thanks to Chinese gamblers.

I have always been in favor of sustainable landscaping that acknowledges the reality of how much rainfall Las Vegas receives. The next step is to make sure Loewe's and Home Depot home improvement stores stop selling grass seed that requires too much water.

Mexico City- with 10 million people and built literally IN A LAKE is even more insane.

Funny how this video is posted 9 days before an unusual amount of rain in the area causes flooding.

brilliant video thoroughly entertaining

I grew up in northern Nevada and whenever my family visited Vegas, I was amazed at how many people lived there with very little water. Seems like I wasn’t the only one to wonder this

I was born and raised in Las Vegas. We have such an amazing community of people despite our reputation as sin city. I pray we continue to be a water efficient city, I want my children to one day see Las Vegas in all its glory 🥂

It is really very impressive to watch and learn something from the story of Las Vegas to make efficient use of the available resources near you👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

This was so interesting and informative thank you for so many details I learned a lot I did not know! It was really cool to know the highest and lowest point in the usa are related

John Oliver had a great segment that covered how Vegas has pioneered sustainable water usage, y'all should check it out, it covers some other bad water use policies in surrounding states particularly Utah.

Wow, I never knew about the water consumption trend with Las Vegas. The way you broke it down, it truly sounds AMAZING just how efficient that city is with the water they have access to

This DEFINITELY explains why water is so expensive in las vegas! They can get up to $10 a bottle in some areas in new vegas.

Thank was a great video as a now 6 yr resident of Vegas i try to absorb and learn all I can