Here’s why Arizona says it can keep growing despite historic megadrought
Drive traffic-clogged Interstate 10 through Phoenix’s West Valley suburbs and you’d hardly know the Southwest is as dry as it’s been in 1,200 years. Water gulping data centers, large warehouses and distribution centers have sprouted in the barren desert. Housing development after housing development is slated for construction. … Phoenix is now America’s fifth largest city. And the growth and economic boom particularly in its West Valley is continuing unabated despite larger questions about the future of water supplies amid a 23 year megadrought on the Colorado River. Winter temperatures at the river’s headwaters in the Rocky Mountains have risen by an estimated 3 degrees Fahrenheit since 1980, meaning less water for the region’s snow fed reservoirs.