Thursday 12th April

Callaway Golf Centre, situated further away from the strip than where we were staying provided the chance to do something I usually do in England and compare it to playing in America. The landscape of the driving range is such a contrast to what I am used to and as I stood up on the range, about 20 foot from the ground below and surveyed the scene it was incredible. It was strange that you could turn to the right and see how Las Vegas as it is meant to look like without the interference of people with its clear blue skies and snow peaked mountains, and then look to the left and see the gaudy reflective gold of the Mandalay Bay hotel. In addition to this there was almost a continuous number of planes flying close overhead, approximately 15 in the hour I spent there. This just goes to show the huge number of people that come in and out of the city every day, and how they are helping to contribute to the 36 million people who pass through each year. This volume of people was reiterated at Hoover Dam along with the number of American visitors opposed to international. I had expected places of historical interest to be crowded with foreign holiday makers coming to see a work of engineering exceptionalism, but perhaps the increasing fear of water shortages by the rapidly decreasing water reserves in Lake Mead has created new interest in the Dam to those it would effect. Lake Mead is currently only 41 percent full and eventually when this falls to a certain point, there will not be enough water to power the Dam, plunging millions of Americans into darkness. I could not help but notice the irony of my day as I was staring out over the Dam, realising that I had spent my morning on one of Nevada’s 133 golf courses which unnecessarily uses water for decoration while the reservoir is reaching critically low levels. Levels made obvious by the white ‘bathtub rings’ highlighting where the water level used to be and by how much it has dropped in recent years, following an almost decade long drought.

The  'bathtub' ring highlights the alarming rate at which water is decreasing.

References:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Las-Vegas-An-American-Paradox.html?c=y&story=fullstory.
‘Golf Link: Nevade Golf Courses’ - http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/state.aspx?state=NV