When Las Vegas was closed it took everyone off guard. Sure, for a long time environmentalists had said that the Colorado River was over taxed, and we all saw the water loss from Lake Mead drop and leave marinas high and dry. But then the water dropped low enough that it threatened the power generation capabilities of Hoover Dam and recreational use of the lake was suspended –as if that might help garner more water. But with Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California all drawing on the effluence of the Rocky Mountain snows, more water was taken than supplied by nature. As the expression goes, all good things must end, and here were are looking at a federal order to abandon Las Vegas, all of its taps to water shut off to save the Colorado for the needs of larger population centers, but most noticably agriculture. Already Americas production of foodstuff had been falling off due to restricted water supplies for irrigation. Many farms simply gave up the ghost when faced with the prohibitive costs of retooling their irrigation systems to conform with conservation laws created by governments consternated by a problem they failed to understand, as simple as it was. It was seen that the government had to do something, so it did what it did best and that was to create new rules.