LA Times Water Story: "It's the same fatal error being repeated all over the Southwest--there is no new water"

John M. Glionna's front page LA Times story is generating a lot of attention today and it's interesting to see the many ways the look at Las Vegas's water situation has been interpreted. While The Strip sounds like it's to blame, the story makes very clear that it is not, but instead the watering of turf.

And though we all know from David Owen's Golf Digest story a few years back that the efforts to minimize turf irrigation have been the most progressive in the country, it still sounds like the takeaway from the story will be that golf is still a huge part of the problem.

The real water hog is not people, many say, but grass: About 70% of Las Vegas water goes to lawns, public parks and golf courses. A rebate program has already ripped out 168 million square feet of grass, enough to lay an 18-inch-wide roll of sod about 85% of the way around the Earth.

But is Las Vegas ready to ban grass entirely? "Well, at that point you're seriously impacting quality of life. We're not being complacent. We're just not ready for draconian cuts," said Davis, the spokesman for the water authority.