When you fly over Las Vegas, you can see clearly how housing developments have bitten deeper and deeper into the desert. There are no green lawns around the houses. The land is so dry and fresh water so precious that the houses themselves look thirsty.

The West Plains area is no Las Vegas. But it’s booming. The population of its incorporated areas, such as Cheney and Airway Heights, as well as the population in its unincorporated areas, are expected to more than double by 2026. The aquifer system that provides fresh water to the West Plains is already under duress.

Says the Washington Department of Ecology’s John Covert: “Water use exceeds recharge by at least 300 percent. We are mining the system. We are pumping it out faster than we’re putting it in.”

At a meeting Thursday, concerned residents learned more about the aquifer’s woes. An exasperated Lorraine Mitvalsky, who lives in a rural setting at Clear Lake, heard the population projections and the aquifer shortfall projections. She asked the experts: “How are we going to do this? We’ll be just like Las Vegas.”

As economic development folks celebrate the fact the region is being discovered by businesses, new residents and tourists, the growing pains are harder to cheer about. Growth and development, though great for a region’s tax base, always tax fresh water supplies.

Some signs for optimism: Citizens are getting educated. The Thursday meeting was held in a recital hall at Eastern Washington University; 100 people packed in. Geologists gave Aquifer 101 presentations and citizens learned the lexicon of aquifers: basalt, sediment, bedrock. They learned that the West Plains aquifer is chopped up and compartmentalized. It’s not a neatly flowing “river” beneath the ground, but more like a series of sponges of varying sizes and water-holding capacities.

There is talk of West Plains communities tapping into the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, a resource now being studied to determine its own set of stressors. It’s never a good idea to “borrow” water in this way. Fresh water issues are regional problems and need to be tackled regionally. When there are scarce resources in one aquifer, you don’t suction off another one to solve it.

The more that citizens are educated in the basics of aquifers, the more they will be willing to assume responsibility to conserve water and reuse it. It will mean ending their love affairs with manicured, green lawns and accepting that treated wastewater will irrigate golf courses and parks.

The meeting presented the challenges in a compelling way. But few solutions were offered. Geologist Mike McCollum gave this tongue-in-cheek advice: Take the Las Vegas route. Grow like hell. Deplete your local water supply. Then get the federal government to build you a billion-dollar pipeline and buy up water rights from other places.

West Plains residents have the chance to avoid the Las Vegafication of their beautiful land. Education is the first step to figuring out – in collaboration with local, county and state officials – the best way to preserve their fresh water and way of life.