Nevada: Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam is a marvel of modern engineering roughly a half hour to forty-five-minute drive from the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, proper depending on traffic. This massive feat of cement and hydro-electric power provides the literal spark of electricity that keeps the city of Sin sparkling away and attracting visitors all-year-long, powered by the Colorado River and the Lake Mead man-made reservoir. Unfortunately for the residents of Las Vegas, like your's truly used to be, the water levels of the reservoir have been dwindling away over the last couple decades to leave a depressing ring around the entirety of the lake demonstrating how high the water levels used to be, versus their current levels. As a youngling, my family would drag me out to the lake pretty regularly for outings and Hoover Dam would get a visit at least once a decade to make sure I was aware of and, hopefully, appreciative, of it's importance to the valley. As an adult, I'm still grateful for the construction of Hoover Dam and the cheap energy it has provided the nearby cities for the majority of my life. Having a power plant in your own backyard is certainly a boon, though many newer residents of the valley might not be aware of just how close their energy creation is to their home. 

As is the case for most of us, the future is uncertain. There have been efforts to push water conservation in all the areas that benefit from the Colorado River's limited supply, but as the populations continue to grow in the drought-riddled areas there's going to be ever more scrapping over ever-more-scarce water supplies. It's not just the city of Las Vegas that benefits from the reservoir, after all, but much of Southern California, Utah and Arizona get a boost from this nearby supply. For many years it's been a cheap and efficient supply, but when the costs go up? I'm glad I'm not there to find out the result... I don't know that it's going to go full Mad-Max style up in the Mojave desert, but I can't say I'd be the least bit surprised if it did. 

Also, as a long-time resident of the area, it's kind of crap in my eyes how they've started charging for anything remotely resembling Dam-accessible parking. If you're willing to wait and possibly fight a bus-full of tourists, you might be able to find free parking at an outlying area, but otherwise, you're gonna have to shell out for the privilege of viewing a National Treasure. Bastards. Last I checked, you can't even go inside the Dam anymore due to fears of terrorism. 'Murica, home of the scared-shitless, am I right? Vegas is far more likely to be attacked by homegrown domestic terrorists, as clearly demonstrated by the terrible incident in 2017.  But I digress, being a center of power for a large region of the American Southwest probably makes it a consideration, which results in the over-the-top security measures being implemented. It is what it is, I'm afraid. 

Thanks for stopping by!

💖

XOXO,

NAU