“The broad attention is showing the world what local leaders have spent the past half-century trying to prove: This desert city can be a major player in global tech and manufacturing.”
But putting the water shortage in the very last sentence of the story? Seems like burying the lede.
Move to the desert, put a strain on the electric grid running AC all the time, and strain the water supply for a population that can’t be supported. What could go wrong?
I think we’re perfectly capable of building well-designed, sustainable cities in the desert. But Phoenix is not a model I would want to replicate.
The major strain on the electrical grid can be solved with solar power, which is what is happening.
Water demand for residential is less than agriculture, and Arizona is switching out a lot of farms for housing. There are also a lot of farms choosing to sell their water instead of farm. You also have companies like Intel being able to clean their effluent to a quality it can be used as potable water.
The cost of beef and frozen orange juice may go up, but the heat something the area designs around.