Smaller towns that rely almost entirely on a single water source are more vulnerable to the West’s drought crisis than major metropolitan areas such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
If Lake Powell or Mead were to fall below the levels needed to supply cities, some of these communities could face severe shortages because they lack the backup water infrastructure that the larger cities have built over decades, says a recent analysis from World Atlas.
Kathryn Sorensen, a Colorado River expert at Arizona State University and former director of Phoenix Water Services, told Newsweek that smaller communities can be particularly vulnerable because developing alternative supplies is costly…