Cities Compared: Desert Cities
Sustainability might mean different things to different people, but the constant theme is ensuring that the resource needs of the future are safeguarded and nurtured in the present. And no resource is more critical than water. Yet water is a source of great contention in American desert cities, where states compete with states for water, cities with other cities, and ultimately, people with nature.
Western water wars read like a Hollywood drama. Look no further than Roman Polanski’s Chinatown to get a semi-fictionalized picture of William Mulholland, the Los Angeles water czar credited for supplying the city at the expense of the Owens Valley .
The demand for inexpensive housing in sunny climates has caused a huge influx of people to the American southwest, where most of SustainLane’s desert cities are located. Tucson officials estimate that between 30 and 45 percent of its economy is powered by the building industry.
Desert Cities Compared
One of the problems that comes with living in the desert is the desire to make it as un-desert-like as possible. Much of the suburban landscape in cities like Phoenix, Mesa, and Las Vegas is similar to what one would find in temperate climates. Lawns, tropical landscaping and acre upon acre of resource intensive vegetation dot the landscape in cities whose environments naturally favor cacti, succulents, and dry brush.
“For the longest time those of us who’ve moved to the west had the pioneering spirit of coming and putting in vast amounts of turf, trying to recreate Kentucky, Tennessee and the East Coast – that’s not going to work anymore,” said Patricia Mulroy, General Manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority in a New York Times interview.
Desert city residents survive inhospitably high temperatures by running power-hungry air-conditioners; they quench their thirst by pumping groundwater from aquifers and diverting surface water through complex multi-state agreements. Seven states currently rely on the Colorado River’s diminishing flows. The West is in the midst of drought, but scientists are saying that these conditions are actually closer to normal than the atypically wet seasons the West is accustomed to.
Many cities have adopted policies to extend the life of their water supplies. Examples include restrictions on when residents can water lawns, mandates on the use of low-flow plumbing fixtures, and aggressive greywater reuse practices. Las Vegas is even paying residents to rip out lawn and replace it with xeriscaping – landscaping that requires little if any irrigation and consists of native vegetation. The creativity exercised by these cities could easily be used in other cities, regardless of how much natural rainfall they receive. As people become savvier about resource use, everyone will be looking for ways to conserve.
“You wouldn’t move to Alaska if you didn’t like the cold. Don’t move to the desert if you don’t enjoy the landscape that flourishes and occurs here naturally,” said Mulroy.
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Click here to comment!In my travels around the world, I have yet to be inspired by a beautiful parking lot. —Arif Khan, Portland
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