Betting on Conservation

How We Survive

Marketplace

Business, News

5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Las Vegas is a fantastical Disneyland for adults in the middle of the desert. It features fabulous displays of water — like the thousand dancing fountains of the Bellagio Hotel or the winding canals that recreate Venice at the Venetian Hotel. But surprisingly, it’s a city that has also become known for water conservation and innovation.

In this episode, we sit down with Pat Mulroy, who was the top water manager in Southern Nevada for 25 years and led conservation efforts in the desert city. We talk with her about the existential crisis that Las Vegas and other desert cities face, how Southern Nevada has been able to cut its Colorado River water use by 31% in the past two decades, and what that means for the trade-offs that we all may have to consider to keep living where we want to live.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you have 15 minutes and about $40 you don't mind parting with, you can take a ride on Colorado River water.
0:08.0	So Marcello?
0:10.0	And you're from Sicily?
0:12.0	Palermo. Pilermo.
0:13.0	Palermo.
0:14.0	Oh, Marcello Salati, my guide is steering the boat.
0:19.0	Actually, it's a sleek wood gondola with red upholstered seats.
0:24.0	But I'm going to sing for you.
0:25.5	Ready for some music?
0:27.0	I'm totally ready.
0:28.3	This is called Valare, the Instagram.
0:30.9	Oh, the glow of the sky changes color turning from a pale buttery.
0:37.0	As we're floating along, the glow of the sky changes color, turning from a pale buttery orange to a dusky shade of purple.
0:47.0	You'll see up here, thank you.
0:49.0	Now the skylight changed it to sunset.
0:52.0	See that? Oh, yes.
0:54.0	Does this feel authentic to you?
0:56.0	It does, it does, they love.
0:58.0	We pass a gelato stand, a binding, Venetian style alleyway, also a Banana Republic, a Tommy Bahama,
1:06.2	were on Colorado River Water inside a recreation of the Venice canals.
1:12.3	In the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.
1:15.0	That's why this boat ride sounds like we're in a mall.
	...

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