Arizona Now Fastest-Growing State, Narrowly Trailed By Nevada - CSM

[hatrack]

PHOENIX – Two desert states continue to grow more rapidly than all others. But Arizona can now lay claim to the title of the country's fastest growing state, outpacing Nevada for the first time in nearly two decades. According to figures released Friday by the Census Bureau, Arizona's population grew by 3.6 percent between July 2005 and July 2006. Nevada's grew 3.5 percent in the same period.

But it's not always easy being big - and getting bigger at a rapid clp - in the middle of a desert. The growth that Arizona - and greater Phoenix, in particular - are experiencing has placed a great strain on the use of public land, roadways, and precious natural resources - especially water. "Historically, water has been the resource that's driven population growth in the state," says Patricia Gober, a geography professor at Arizona State University in Tempe. But whether the supply of "water can keep abreast of the population growth is the issue that will challenge us in the future."

To be sure, Arizona has been booming for decades. Just prior to World War II, the state hosted 499,000 people. Today, 12 times that many people - nearly 6.2 million - call the Grand Canyon state home. In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and is the state's most densely populated area, the population grew in the same period from about 400,000 to nearly 4 million.

Planners project that by 2010, the greater Phoenix and Tucson areas will merge. And forecasters predict that the population in that swath of land, dubbed the Arizona Sun Corridor, will top 10 million by 2040.

EDIT

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1222/p03s03-ussc.html

Hey! Let's ALL move where there isn't any water!!!!!