LETTER: Why does Las Vegas keep building houses?

Your Wednesday article on Nevada lawmakers and drought aid was informative, but it had me confused over the whole issue. The article stated, “Nevada lawmakers signed onto a letter with more than 30 other members of Congress on Monday, calling for more federal funds to help address drought in the West, which is only expected to intensify”.

The confusion comes into play when Southern Nevada is building more than 10,000 new homes every year. That’s more than 1.3 billion gallons of water a year.

How can we ask the federal government for additional funds to fight the drought when we keep pulling billions of gallons of water out of the Colorado River, which feeds Lake Mead?

We do a great job conserving water in Southern Nevada, but it seems the more we try to save, the more is consumed by new housing. If the federal government and Congress agree the drought will intensify, why are we allowing the building of thousands of homes each year? It doesn’t make sense.