The American West Is Drying Up. Can the Market Help?

When members of the Colorado River Water Users Association, or CRWUA, descended on Caesars Palace for their annual conference in December, few showed much enthusiasm for Las Vegas’s popular diversions. Attendees mostly bypassed the slots and roulette tables, the magic shows and nightclubs. The sole planned excursion on offer—an early morning jaunt to Hoover Dam—was the definition of a busman’s holiday. This was not a decadent bunch. They were serious-minded people dealing with a monumental problem.