5 reasons to panic about Arizona’s water, and 5 reasons not to
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Dry, cracked earth is shown in July in an area that used to be underwater near where the Lake Mead Marina once was located. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
As brown became the new green in drought-stricken California this summer (and as “Drought-Stricken” became that state’s unofficial first name), some of the national media took a quick look around and started asking: If the Golden State was shutting down its sprinklers, was the whole West about to dry up and blow away?
A June story in the Arizona Daily Star outlined the ways Arizona could end up with an official water shortage, but it pronounced the chances of that happening anytime soon to be “slim.”
Within days, the New York Times weighed in with a more dire take. Citing drought projections by the Central Arizona Project — which moves water from the Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson — an article warned the canal might cut its deliveries to the state’s urban areas as early as 2019.
