The mighty Colorado River is a source of life flowing through seven Western U.S. states and Mexico, providing water to nearly 40 million people; it’s the backbone of agriculture, tourism, recreation, irrigation and hydropower industries in the West.

On the rocky beach at Little Girls Point County Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the heavy wash of Lake Superior seeking the shore rolls stones the size of softballs back and forth in the surf.

Plans for a massive development twice the size of Summerlin are in big trouble. The problem — in a word — is water.

For 22 years, Maureen Stapleton has led the San Diego County Water Authority. In just two decades, the agency’s first female general manager accomplished what generations of men had not: Under her leadership, San Diego acquired its own supplies of water.

The population in St. George, Utah could triple in the next 40 years, so leaders are planning a 140-mile pipeline to deliver water from the Colorado River. But is that the best plan for a desert city?

Media reports describe Cape Town, South Africa, as a parched, barren land where the perfect combination of drought, climate change, a growing population and excessive water use has left officials counting down the days when the coastal city’s tap runs dry.

IN 2015, ALBUQUERQUE delivered as much water as it had in 1983, despite its population growing by 70 percent. In 2016, Tucson delivered as much water as it had in 1984, despite a 67 percent increase in customer hook-ups. The trend is the same for Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, said longtime water policy researcher Gary Woodard, who rattled off these statistics in a recent phone interview.

Technology companies want the wastewater. The cities produce a steady supply of it.