Sucked dry

The Southern Nevada Water Authority announced the amount of water intended to be transported by the Las Vegas pipeline would be reduced by 15 percent. Even so, the pipe would still extract more than 34 billion gallons of water from Great Basin National Park.

The announcement came shortly before a decision to increase water rates for Las Vegas residents by around $5. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Water authority officials expect the rate hike to generate about $300 million in additional revenue over the next three years” and the revenue will be put toward construction projects.

The water pipeline is expected to cost $15 billion.