As the drought – or aridification, a permanent change in water and climate conditions – continues in Los Angeles, most of California, along with a large part of the western half of the United States, many people have been wondering how are people living in these states managing? 

Do they still have water?

Have they been forced to make draconian cuts?

Well, here are some of the reasons LA, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Albuquerque, and other Western cities have managed surprisingly well over the past few, very dry years.

People are Using Less. Water consumption is declining throughout the country, but in California, it has plummeted. In 1990, per capita consumption in the state was 231 gallons per day. Thirty years later, it’s fallen to just ninety-one gallons a day, a 61 percent reduction. 

LA Planning: Los Angeles is no longer dependent on one or two water supplies. It imports the bulk of its water through a vast storage and delivery system. This includes water from the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California, the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, the Colorado River, and some groundwater and recycled water.

“Los Angeles is less vulnerable [today],” according to Peter Gleick, president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, who has studied water resources for decades. “This is because they have this very broad, diverse set of options.”

But LA is not the only place doing better than expected when it comes to water. Here are some more.

Las Vegas Beat the Odds. The lion’s share of Las Vegas’ water supply comes from the Colorado River. The city of 2.4 million people and its forty million annual visitors gets 90 percent of its water from the river and 10 percent from groundwater.

However, Nevada lost 7 percent of its share of Colorado River water this year as part of cuts announced by the Bureau of Reclamation. But Las Vegas, due to extensive water conservation measures already in place, was rewarded. The city was not required to cut back further.

“It’s fair to say that Las Vegas has taken dramatic steps to reduce its dependence on Colorado River water,” said Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment.

San Diego Turns to Desalination: San Diego gets two-thirds of its supplies from the Colorado River but has been looking for other water sources for more than 30 years.  One source they are now using is desalination.  San Diego County Water Authority gets 10 percent of its water from a $1 billion desalination plant that removes salt and impurities from seawater. The city has also reduced water consumption and cut per-person water use dramatically in the past few years.

Phoenix is Lucky. Phoenix, now the nation’s fifth largest city, relies on the Colorado River for water, but the city is lucky. It also gets water from the state’s Salt and Verde Rivers, which are nowhere as challenged as the Colorado River. Further, Phoenix uses sterilized wastewater for limited uses, like maintaining parks and recharging some aquifers with groundwater.

Arizona was the hardest hit among Western states losing Colorado River water this year, with 18% of its supply gone. Officials in Phoenix say they have enough water to weather future cuts because of diversified supplies and water saved and stored underground.

Water Marvels. Another reason these cities and states are faring far better than expected is the development of more water saving technologies.  At one time, no-water urinals were viewed as one of the few water saving technologies available to building owners and managers.

But now there are many other water “engineering marvels,” says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “This is sort of the perennial story of the West.”