Packed to the Future
Vision Dixie Plans for the Future
By Tracy Medley, 5-29-07
What will Southern Utah’s cities look like in the not-too-distant future? Well, according to Vision Dixie is a countywide initiative hoping to wisely plan for the future and given the area’s exponential population growth over the past several years, the timing is apt.
We are talking about an enormous amount of people moving to a place that is both essentially and literally; a desert. County infrastructure can hardly keep up with the population in some towns growing close to 40 percent over the past 8 years.
St. George’s population explosion is so pervasive and complicated that it even made its way into George Will’s Newsweek column about illegal immigration.
Vision Dixie has proposed four scenarios for Dixie’s future, leaving it up to residents to decide which course will be the best in preparing for the inevitable. The final four scenarios were hashed out over the course of 13 workshops and with input from nearly 1200 area residents
I'm curious what the effect of water sharing will be on this population growth. Lake Powell has been used as a barometer for the drought effects in the region. http://www.usbr.gov/uc/water/crsp/cs/gcd.html It seems that the influx of people into an environment that simply has a very low carrying capacity threshhold is less than wise. California and Arizona agriculture could further suffer from decreases in water availability in future years. Is it possible to be on the precipice of a decision that could be made wisely? And then to make the wise choice? Fewer people or intelligent design for water use being implimented at the get-go, rather than solving a constructed problem later?
I wonder if cisterns on homes are a possible solution.
Just some thoughts, your article got me thinking about things.