The Colorado River system supplies water to more than 36 million people, but it is being threatened by overuse, long-term drought, and climate change.
People who worry about the water shortage sometimes focus their scorn on Las Vegas, which appears culpable mainly because, of all the cities that draw water from the river, it lies the closest to its banks.
But, in actuality, Nevada was so thinly populated when the river was divided up that its allotment is very small — just 2 percent of the total — and it actually takes less than that, primarily because Las Vegas has some of most stringent water-conservation regulations in the country.
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