Book 16, Question 135
How Do Desert Cities Store Water for Dry Times?
Desert cities store water for dry times by collecting it when it is available and saving it for later! They plan ahead so taps keep running, even in a dry year. Storing water is like saving up for a rainy day.
More fun facts
- Southern Nevada, home of Las Vegas, gets about 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River.
- That river begins as rain and melting snow in the Rocky Mountains, far away.
- The water is drawn mainly from Lake Mead, a huge lake behind a dam.
- Lake Mead's water level has dropped about 160 feet since 2000 because of a long drought.
- Since 1987, Las Vegas has pumped spare river water into the ground to save it in an underground water bank.
- More than 360,000 acre-feet of water has been stored that way for times of need.
- In hot summer months, groundwater can supply up to 25 percent of the valley's daily water.
Questions kids ask
Why not use up the stored water during a drought?
The water bank is kept as a backup for emergencies, so the city still has water when times get really tough.