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The Big Gulp: L.A. #1 U.S. City That's Running Out of Water
Photo by Rick O! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Guess what? We live in a desert and water is scarce! And now we are the number one large American city on a list of ten that are running out of water, according to a report assembled and published by 24/7 Wall St. Los Angeles gets the glory based on 24/7 Wall St.'s examination of a "October 2010 report on water risk by environmental research and sustainability group Ceres, [...] a comprehensive July 2010 report from the Natural Resources Defense Council," and their "own analysis of water supply and consumption in America's largest cities."
Ceres assigned L.A.'s Department of Water & Power "the highest likelihood of [utility] risk among the cities it assessed," and with the Hoover Dam producing electricity at a historic low rate, it may eventually not be possible to "sustain the dam economically." We lose in this scenario, because the Hoover Dam is where most of our LADWP electricity comes from. High demand is also taking a toll on the availability of drinking water from aqueducts that send us our water from the Colorado River. So drink 'em and plug 'em in...while we got 'em.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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