The farmers have the most senior water rights, so there's a lot of legal hurdles to that solution. It's definitely something that needs to happen though. Letting them go bust means the Southwest US needs to get food from somewhere else, most likely shipped in on trucks. It's not as simple as people make it out.
Heat pumps are AC in reverse, so why's that so much more efficient? And most new homes are built with good insulation and lawns are illegal for new homes. Most grass has been removed and replaced with rocks, only older homes are allowed to keep their lawns. There's cash incentives to get them to remove it though. In fact, Las Vegas has actually decreased it's water usage in the past few decades, while increasing the population.
More energy is used in the US to heat homes than to cool them, so I'm really not seeing why people should live elsewhere. At least not from a pure energy use standpoint.
If the Hoover Dam becomes inoperable, the entire Southwest US is in trouble. It provides water for farms and power, both mostly in California. Las Vegas would actually be the last to feel the effects of Lake Mead drying up because they've installed a deeper "straw" to draw water from, along with a pumping station.
The largest water reservoir in the US is a few miles away. A large air force base was built on the, then, out skirts of town, the nuclear testing site, and the magnesium plant in nearby Henderson. All of which helped the US in WWII. That's why Las Vegas isn't a ghost town. It's much more than gambling and debauchery. If that's all it took, then why isn't Pahrump (where prostitution is legal) a big city? What happened to Reno, which used to be the place to go party?
I think Lemmy users are incredibly ignorant of Las Vegas and should get a little bit of reading in before trashing my home town.
You also may want to let the 2 million plus residents know their city is not necessary.
I grew up in Vegas. I'd hang out outside with friends all night in the summer. The nights used to be a break from the heat, now it's just always hot. Plus the removal of almost all grass contributes to the heat island effect. The grass needed to go, but it wasn't without consequences.
Wouldn't beer have less infection risk because of the alcohol? Disclaimer, I didn't read any of the articles and have no expertise beyond drinking beer.