Name: Why 5 Million People Live in America’s Hottest City
Uploaded: 2026-03-31T17:05:47.000Z
Duration: 50 min 17 s

Phoenix is one of America's and the world's most peculiar large cities today.

鳳凰城是現今美國乃至全世界數一數二奇特的大城市。

程度副詞

If you arrive in the city during the summer when the temperature is routinely higher than 100°F, you'll be simultaneously struck with a sense of wonder and confusion as to how and why so many people have managed to live here in this objectively hostile environment.

如果你在夏天來到這裡，氣溫經常超過攝氏一百度，你會同時感到驚奇和困惑，不明白為什麼這麼多人能在這個客觀上充滿敵意的環境裡生活。

情態副詞

And just like a city you settle in Sid Meier civilization during the late game in an undesirable area that nobody's picked yet, Phoenix is one of the real world's most recently settled major cities.

就像你在《文明帝國》遊戲後期，選擇了一個沒人要的偏僻區域定居一樣，鳳凰城也是現實世界中，近期才發展起來的主要城市之一。

Only a little more than 80 years ago now, back in 1940, Phoenix was still a fairly small, sleepy town in Arizona with just a tad more than 65,000 residents.

就在八十多年前，也就是 1940 年，鳳凰城還只是亞利桑那州一個相當小、寧靜的小鎮，居民只有六萬五千多人。

It didn't even rank in the top 100 largest U.S.

那時候它甚至沒有排進美國前一百大城市之列，

it barely even registered as a blip in the general consciousness of most Americans, let alone the rest of the world.

對大多數美國人來說，它幾乎不值一提，更不用說全世界了。

The town had only been initially settled a bit more than 70 years before in 1940, back in 1867, which means that the time between Phoenix being initially settled and growing into this small town of 65,000 is about the same length of time as from 1940 to today.

這個鎮最早的定居時間比 1940 年早一點，大約是 1867 年，這意味著從鳳凰城初次定居到發展成這個六萬五千人的小鎮，所花的時間，跟從 1940 年到現在的時間差不多。

But over Phoenix's second time period of 80 years from 1940 to today, over the span of just a single lifetime, Phoenix evolved from that small, dusty town in the desert that nobody had ever heard of into a sprawling urban metropolis home to nearly 5 million people that ranks as the fifth largest city in all of America now, having surpassed the city-limits population of Philadelphia in 2020 to clinch its position in the top 5 biggest U.S.

但在鳳凰城第二個八十年的時期，也就是從 1940 年到今天，僅僅一個世代的時間，鳳凰城就從那個沒人聽過、荒涼沙漠裡的小鎮，演變成一個佔地廣闊的都會區，住了將近五百萬人，現在是全美國第五大城市，並在 2020 年超越了費城的市區人口，穩居美國前五大城市之列。

In terms of city-limits population in America, Phoenix is now only overshadowed by the likes of Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and

在美國的城市人口數方面，鳳凰城現在只輸給休士頓、芝加哥、洛杉磯和

New York, and it's still growing at a faster pace than any of those other larger cities.

紐約，而且它的成長速度仍然比其他這些大城市快。

Phoenix has since become one of the most quintessential examples of American suburban sprawl, with seemingly endless rows of single-family homes spilling out beyond the urban core into the surrounding flat desert landscape.

鳳凰城至今已成為美國郊區擴張最典型的例子之一，無窮無盡的獨棟房屋延伸到市中心以外，遍佈周圍平坦的沙漠景觀。

By 2007, roughly one acre of desert land around Phoenix was being developed into residential real estate every single hour, and

到了 2007 年，鳳凰城周圍的沙漠土地，每小時大約有一英畝被開發成住宅房地產，而且

Phoenix is still one of the top 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country in the 2020s.

在 2020 年代，鳳凰城仍然是全國成長最快的都會區前十名之一。

As Americans from all across the rest of the country are being pulled to the region for Arizona's low taxes, relatively low cost of living compared to states like California, Phoenix's booming economy and plentiful jobs, the year-round sunshine, and

由於美國各地的人們因為亞利桑那州的低稅率、相較於加州等州較低的居住成本、鳳凰城蓬勃發展的經濟和充足的工作機會、全年陽光普照，以及

美麗的冬天而紛紛移居到這個地區，

But hardly anyone back in the early 20th century, back when Phoenix was still just that small, dusty town, could have ever predicted this meteoric rise over the span of the eight decades that followed after 1940.

但在二十世紀初期，當時鳳凰城還只是一個塵土飛揚的小鎮時，幾乎沒有人能預料到在 1940 年之後的八十年裡，它會有如此驚人的崛起。

Because Phoenix exists within a geographically unlikely place for such a massive urban population to have ever arisen in.

因為鳳凰城位於一個地理上不太可能出現如此龐大城市人口的地方。

It's in the middle of a valley within the hot and arid Sonoran Desert that lacks major nearby water resources.

它坐落在一個山谷中，而這個山谷位於炎熱乾旱的索諾拉沙漠裡，缺乏附近主要的淡水資源。

The Gila River, a tributary of the much larger Colorado River, passes through the area, but

希拉河是較大的科羅拉多河的一條支流，流經該地區，但

its flow is very small at only about 7 cubic meters per second on average, which is only about a tenth of the flow of the Rio Grande that runs through New Mexico and forms the border between Texas and Mexico.

其平均流量僅約每秒七立方公尺，僅為流經新墨西哥州並構成德州與墨西哥邊界的格蘭德河流量的十分之一。

The Gila River is more of a stream in comparison, so humanity had to spend decades inefficiently diverting more and more water to the area from elsewhere to continue fueling and sustaining all of the growth.

相較之下，希拉河更像是一條溪流，是以人類不得不花費數十年時間，從其他地方低效率地將越來越多的水引到該地區，以持續為所有成長提供動力和維持。

In Phoenix today, you'll see a landscape that's dotted with lush green golf courses, farms, and

在今日的鳳凰城，你會看到一片綠意盎然的高爾夫球場、農場和

swimming pools cast against a backdrop of dry deserts and rocks that surround them.

游泳池點綴其間，背景則是環繞著它們的乾旱沙漠和岩石。

It probably won't come as a surprise to you then that despite having less than half of the population of New York City today, the Phoenix metropolitan area consumes more than twice the amount of water as New York does.

儘管鳳凰城都會區今日的人口不到紐約市的一半，但其用水量卻是紐約市的兩倍多，這點想必不會讓你感到意外。

And in the age of climate change, Phoenix's future water supply and habitability are each coming increasingly into open question now.

在氣候變遷的時代，鳳凰城的未來供水和居住適宜性都日益受到公開質疑。

This last summer in 2023 broke the all-time record in Phoenix's history for the highest number of days to reach more than 110°F, or 43°C—54 solid days of them—while one of those days broke the all-time high single-day record in the city of 113°F, or 45°C.

去年夏天，也就是 2023 年，鳳凰城創下了歷史紀錄，有 54 天的最高溫超過了 110°F（攝氏 43 度），其中有一天更是打破了該市單日最高溫紀錄的 113°F（攝氏 45 度）。

2023 was Phoenix's hottest year ever on record, after breaking the previous record that was only set in 2021, and

2023 年是鳳凰城有紀錄以來最熱的一年，打破了僅在 2021 年創下的前一個紀錄，而

the previous record before that that was only set in 2020.

再往前一個紀錄則是在 2020 年創下的。

And as the temperatures in Phoenix are increasing, the city's precious water supplies are also beginning to decrease, with cuts already being made to both of Arizona's primary water sources, the Colorado River and the state's own groundwater, while Phoenix announced just last year that for the first time ever, they'll be freezing certain new residential building permits over a concern of the area's diminishing water supply.

而且隨著鳳凰城氣溫不斷升高，這個城市珍貴的水資源也開始減少，亞歷桑那州的兩大主要水源——科羅拉多河和州內的地下水——都已經面臨供水削減。鳳凰城去年也才剛宣佈，由於擔心該地區日益減少的水源供應，將首次凍結某些新的住宅建築許可。

There is a real fear emerging that this could be the beginning of the end of Phoenix's past 80 years' worth of explosive and limitless suburban growth across the desert, and

大家開始擔心，這會不會是鳳凰城過去 80 年來在沙漠中爆炸性、無限的郊區成長的終結的開端，

that the chickens are finally coming home to roost in Phoenix.

Peggy Hill herself probably summed up the cultural attitude towards Phoenix best during this episode at King the Hill after stepping outside in the city during a 111°F day.

在《國王一家出任務》這集節目中，Peggy Hill 在鳳凰城攝氏 44 度的天氣裡走出去後，大概最能總結出當時大家對鳳凰城的文化態度。

The wisdom of having established a nearly 5 million-person metropolitan area in the middle of the Sonoran Desert is being criticized louder with every passing year, and

隨著一年一年過去，在索諾拉沙漠中心建立一個近 500 萬人口的都會區是否明智，正受到越來越大的批評，

the next 80 years of Phoenix's history are shaping up to look very different than how the past 80 years went.

而鳳凰城未來 80 年的歷史，看來將與過去 80 年截然不同。

And in order to understand where the city is going, if this is all really the end of Phoenix as we know it, and

而且，如果這真的是我們所認識的鳳凰城的終結，要了解這座城市將走向何方，

how Phoenix managed to get so huge in spite of its desert environment and became the so-called monument to man's arrogance in the first place, it helps to begin with how Phoenix and Arizona all came to be in the first place.

以及鳳凰城最初是如何在沙漠環境中變得如此龐大，又為何會成為所謂人類傲慢的紀念碑，就得先從鳳凰城和亞歷桑那州最初是如何形成的開始談起。

Modern Arizona and the valley where Phoenix would one day arise in was sparsely inhabited by Indigenous Americans for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans.

在歐洲人抵達之前，現代亞歷桑那州以及鳳凰城未來將興起的那片山谷，數千年來一直由原住民稀疏地居住著。

The pre-Columbian Hohokam people inhabited the area in the valley for nearly 1,000 years and were the first to recognize the area's potential for agriculture despite its arid environment.

哥倫布發現美洲大陸前的霍霍坎人（Hohokam）在這片山谷居住了將近一千年，他們是第一批認識到這片乾旱地區農業潛力的人。

They developed a series of complex canals around the Gila and Salt Rivers in the area that made agriculture possible before mysteriously disappearing sometime around 1450.

他們在吉拉河（Gila River）和鹽河（Salt River）周邊開發了一系列複雜的運河系統，讓農業得以在此發展，但他們卻在約 1450 年左右神祕地消失了。

It wasn't too long after that that the first Europeans began to arrive in the area in the 16th century, and

不久之後，在 16 世紀，第一批歐洲人開始抵達這片區域，

then all of modern-day Arizona and the rest of the American Southwest steadily fell under the control of the colonial Spanish Empire and was later inherited by the independent state of Mexico in the 19th century.

接著，現代亞歷桑那州以及整個美國西南部，逐漸落入西班牙殖民帝國的統治之下，後來在 19 世紀由獨立的墨西哥繼承。

But the modern American Southwest was always a sparsely populated fringe territory on the frontiers of their empire.

但現代美國西南部一直是他們帝國邊疆上一個人口稀少的邊陲地區。

By the 1840s, only about 80,000 people lived across all of the Mexican territories that would eventually become Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, and

到了 1840 年代，當時屬於墨西哥領土、後來成為亞歷桑那州、新墨西哥州、加州、內華達州、猶他州和科羅拉多州的地區，總共只有約八萬人居住，

Colorado, and three-fourths of all of them just lived in modern-day New Mexico.

而其中四分之三的人口都住在現在的新墨西哥州。

In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico and conquered all of these lands, and

1846 年，美國向墨西哥宣戰，並征服了所有這些土地，

then purchased a bit more land in southern Arizona, New Mexico, with a Gadsden purchase in 1854, which was the event that brought all of modern-day Arizona and New Mexico both under American control.

接著在 1854 年，透過購買蓋茲登（Gadsden Purchase），又買下了亞歷桑那州和新墨西哥州南部的一小塊土地，這才讓現代的亞歷桑那州和新墨西哥州都納入美國的控制之下。

Arizona and New Mexico were then each born as effectively twin territories of the United States that have always, ever since, made up the geographic core of the American Southwest region.

亞歷桑那州和新墨西哥州當時就這樣像是雙胞胎一樣，成為美國的兩個準州，也一直是美國西南部地區的地理核心。

Both have very comparable geographic sizes and shapes, and both have very similar climates and topographies, and

這兩個州的地理大小和形狀非常相似，氣候和地形也差不多，

both would be jointly admitted into the Union as the final states in the continental U.S.

而且兩州幾乎是同時在 1912 年被納入聯邦，成為美國大陸最後加入的兩個州：新墨西哥州在當年 一月，亞歷桑那州在隔月二月。

at about the same time in 1912: New Mexico in January of that year and Arizona the following month in February.

儘管有這些相似之處，這兩個州在二十世紀和二十一世紀卻走向了截然不同的人口發展軌跡，亞歷桑那州在 2024 年的人口估計約有 750 萬人，

Despite their similarities, however, both states would end up having radically different demographic destinies across the 20th and 21st centuries, with Arizona's current population in 2024 estimated to be at about 7.5 million people, and

而新墨西哥州則遠遠落後，只有 210 萬多人。

New Mexico's lagging far behind it at only a bit more than 2.1 million people.

但有趣的是，在 1912 年的時候，新墨西哥州反而是人口較多的那個州。

But interestingly, back at the time in 1912, New Mexico was the one who entered as a state with a larger population.

大家還記得嗎，在 1846 年被美國征服的這片土地上，當時四分之三的墨西哥居民都住在現在的新墨西哥州，這也是為什麼這塊領土和州最初會被稱為新墨西哥州。

Remember that three-fourths of the Mexicans who lived across all of this territory that would be conquered by the United States in 1846 all just lived in modern-day New Mexico, which is part of why this territory and state became called New Mexico in the first place.

1912 年，新墨西哥州加入美國時，人口有 338,000 人，而亞歷桑那州只有可憐的 217,000 人，

In 1912, New Mexico entered the United States with a population of 338,000 people, compared to Arizona's meager 217,000 people, and

新墨西哥州也繼續保持了幾十年的人口優勢，直到第二次世界大戰後，亞歷桑那州和鳳凰城才開始進入快速、失控、爆炸性成長的時代，並迅速超越了新墨西哥州的成長。

New Mexico would continue remaining the more populous of the two for decades until after the Second World War, when Arizona and Phoenix would each begin their era of rapid, runaway, explosive growth that would quickly eclipse New Mexico's growth in the process.

But even before Arizona's rapid population boom began in the second half of the 20th century, the seeds were already being sown for the state's current debilitating water crisis.

但早在 20 世紀下半葉亞歷桑那州人口快速成長之前，該州目前嚴重的缺水危機的種子就已經埋下了。

In 1862, before Phoenix was even settled, the United States federal government passed the first of the Homestead Acts.

1862 年，在鳳凰城還沒建立之前，美國聯邦政府就通過了第一項《宅地法》。

Designed to encourage settlers to begin colonizing and inhabiting the newly acquired desolate and empty west of the country, the act promised any settler who moved west 160 acres of free land if they agreed to live on the land for a period of at least five years and improve it through cultivation.

這項法案旨在鼓勵移民開始開墾並居住在國家新近獲得的荒涼空曠的西部地區，承諾任何移居西部的移民，如果同意在土地上居住至少五年並透過耕種來改良土地，就能獲得 160 英畝的免費土地。

Even more land was offered up to settlers later at a lower price if the settlers agreed to begin farming it.

後來甚至提供更多土地給同意開始耕種的移民，價格也較低。

Ten percent of all the land in the entire United States was given away to Western settlers for free under these acts.

根據這些法案，美國全國總土地的百分之十都免費贈送給了西部移民。

But in the arid southwest of the country in southern California and in the Arizona and New Mexico territories, where water was scarce and where irrigation infrastructure hardly existed, the ability for settlers to actually farm and cultivate the land provided to them proved very difficult.

但在美國西南部乾旱的加州南部以及亞歷桑那和新墨西哥地區，那裡水源稀少，灌溉基礎設施幾乎不存在，移民實際上耕種和開墾所獲得土地的能力被證明非常困難。

To try and resolve this issue in 1902, the United States federal government then passed the Reclamation Act, which was designed to fund extensive irrigation projects all across the American West to supposedly "reclaim" the land there for agriculture and civilization.

為了試圖解決這個問題，美國聯邦政府在 1902 年通過了《墾務法》，該法旨在資助整個美國西部的大規模灌溉工程，以「開墾」那裡的土地用於農業和文明。

The plan was for the government to sell land in the west and then use the proceeds from that land to fund the irrigation projects that would better the land and increase the land's value, enabling them to continue selling the land for ever higher prices and enabling them to fund more and more grandiose irrigation projects as time went on.

這個計畫是政府出售西部土地，然後將土地收益用於資助灌溉工程，以改良土地並提高土地價值，使他們能夠繼續以越來越高的價格出售土地，並隨著時間的推移資助越來越宏偉的灌溉工程。

Virtually every major river in the American West was dammed under this act, and

根據這項法案，美國西部幾乎所有主要河流都被築壩，

the largest Western River, the Colorado River, was extensively dammed and irrigated with two of the most notable projects: the Hoover Dam and the Glen Canyon Dam, creating America's first and second largest artificial water reservoirs;

而西部最大的科羅拉多河，則透過胡佛水壩和葛蘭峽谷水壩這兩個最著名的工程進行了大規模的築壩和灌溉，創造了美國第一和第二大人工水庫；

Lake Mead between Arizona and Nevada; and Lake Powell between Arizona and Utah.

位於亞歷桑那和內華達之間的米德湖；以及亞歷桑那和猶他之間的鮑威爾湖。

Massive reservoirs in the desert like these were created, and

在沙漠中創造了像這樣的大型水庫，

rivers were diverted, artificially bringing abundant water supplies to Western settlers' farms.

河流被改道，人工將充沛的水源帶給西部墾荒者的農場。

And so, with their free or cheap land in a year-round warm climate that enabled a longer growing season than in the rest of the country and backed up with subsidized low federal price guarantees on their water supply, the early farmers in Arizona and the rest of the Southwest did what anyone else in their position would do and simply began growing crops and raising livestock that required warm climates and high amounts of water like citrus, cotton, nuts, and

於是，憑藉著一年四季溫暖、比國內其他地區更長的生長季節，以及政府補貼的低價聯邦水價保證，亞歷桑那和西南部早期的農民做了任何處於相同情況的人都會做的事，他們開始種植需要溫暖氣候和大量水的作物，飼養牲畜，例如柑橘、棉花、堅果，

alfalfa to feed their growing herds of cattle and dairy products, with little care as to where the water was actually coming from.

以及苜蓿來餵養他們不斷增長的牛群和乳製品，幾乎不關心水的實際來源。

This is why, still today in the 2020s, agriculture continues to be a booming business across the American Southwest, and

這就是為什麼，即使在 2020 年代的今天，農業在美國西南部仍然蓬勃發展，

why a whopping 72 percent of Arizona's water consumption in 2024 is still devoted to the state's agricultural sector.

也是為什麼在 2024 年，亞歷桑那州驚人的 72% 的用水量仍然用於該州的農業部門。

But establishing vast commercial farming enterprises across the Southwest's deserts wasn't the only short-sighted decision that the early planners in the American Southwest made.

但在西南部沙漠建立龐大的商業農業企業，並非早期美國西南部規劃者做出的唯一短視決定。

In 1922, the seven states that share the Colorado River basin area came together to negotiate what would become known as the Colorado River Compact, regulating all of their access to the river's water.

1922 年，科羅拉多河盆地共享的七個州齊聚協商，形成了後來被稱為《科羅拉多河協定》的協議，規範了他們對該河水的所有權利。

The Colorado is by far the largest river that can be found in the American Southwest, with a water discharge rate that's comparable to the Hudson running through New York and that has more than nine times the water discharge rate of the Rio Grande that begins in New Mexico and flows along the Mexico-Texas border.

科羅拉多河是美國西南部迄今為止最大的河流，其排水量可與流經紐約的哈德遜河相比，其排水量是發源於新墨西哥州並沿著墨西哥德州邊境流淌的格蘭德河的九倍多。

The Colorado River is fed by the huge amounts of snow melt up in the Rocky Mountains that then flow southwest towards the river's delta in the Sea of Cortez, with the watershed extending across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and

科羅拉多河的水源來自洛磯山脈大量的融雪，這些融雪向西南流淌，匯入科爾特斯海的河流三角洲，其流域橫跨科羅拉多州、懷俄明州、猶他州、新墨西哥州、亞利桑那州、內華達州，以及

The 1922 compact between these seven states estimated that the average annual flow through the river was approximately 16.4 million acre-feet of water, an acre-foot being a unit of measurement that imagines an acre of land covered by one foot of water, essentially an American football field that's covered with one foot of water.

1922 年，這七個州簽訂的協議估計，該河的平均年流量約為 1640 萬英畝英尺的水量。一英畝英尺是一種測量單位，想像一下一英畝的土地覆蓋著一英尺深的水，相當於一個美式足球場覆蓋著一英尺深的水。

The compact then allotted 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River to the upper four states, and

該協議隨後將科羅拉多河每年 750 萬英畝英尺的水量分配給上游的四個州，

an equal 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year allotted to the lower three states, divided 58.7 percent to California, 37.3 percent to Arizona, and

而下游的三個州也獲得了同樣的每年 750 萬英畝英尺的水量，其中加州獲得 58.7%，亞利桑那州獲得 37.3%，

just 4 percent to Nevada, while the remaining 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year was allotted to Mexico furthest downstream.

內華達州僅獲得 4%，而距離最遠的墨西哥則獲得了每年剩餘的 150 萬英畝英尺的水量。

With New Mexico's annual allotment from the Colorado River in the upper basin states coming out to just 11.25 percent, or 0.84 million acre-feet of water a year, they were entitled to significantly less water from the Colorado River than Arizona was, who got 37.3 percent of the lower basin state's supply, which came out to 2.8 million acre-feet of water a year, more than three times the amount of water as New Mexico got from the river, and

由於新墨西哥州在上游州從科羅拉多河獲得的年分配量僅為 11.25%，即每年 84 萬英畝英尺的水量，是以他們從科羅拉多河獲得的水量遠少於亞利桑那州。亞利桑那州在下游州的供應中獲得了 37.3%，相當於每年 280 萬英畝英尺的水量，是新墨西哥州從該河獲得水量的三倍多，

another part of the reason why Arizona's population took off way more than New Mexico's ever did.

這也是亞利桑那州人口遠比新墨西哥州興盛的另一個原因。

But a major problem with this 1922 compact was that it grossly overestimated the actual usual flows of water through the Colorado River.

但這份 1922 年協議的一個主要問題是，它嚴重高估了科羅拉多河實際的正常水流量。

Their estimate for 16.5 million acre-feet of water a year through the river was based on only limited studies of the river between just 1905 and 1922, a period that many environmental scientists now believe included abnormally high levels of precipitation in the area that abnormally increased the river's flow higher than usual.

他們估計該河每年有 1650 萬英畝英尺的水量，這僅基於 1905 年至 1922 年間對該河的有限研究，而許多環境科學家現在認為，這段時期該地區的降水量異常偏高，異常地增加了河流的流量。

Current estimates of the river's true average flow, with more than a century's worth of data, suggest something more like 13.2 million acre-feet of water a year, is the true historical average, which means that for decades now, the seven compact states in Mexico have been pulling more water out from the river and its artificial reservoirs like Lake Mead and Lake Powell than can be actually naturally replaced, and

現在的估計，根據一個多世紀的數據，這條河的實際平均流量大約是每年 1320 萬英畝英尺，這才是真正的歷史平均值。這意味著，幾十年來，七個締約州和墨西哥從這條河及其人造水庫（如米德湖和鮑威爾湖）抽走的水量，已經超過了自然補充的量，

this issue of locked-in overuse on the river has so far never been significantly amended.

這個河流超量使用的問題，到目前為止從來沒有被顯著修正過。

Moreover, legal water rights in the Western U.S. were created very differently than in the Eastern U.S.

此外，美國西部的水權法規，與美國東部的制定方式截然不同。

In the wetter Eastern U.S., legal water rights are based around the reparian doctrine, where anybody who owns land on a body of water like a river enjoys an equal and "reasonable" use of the water.

在較濕潤的美國東部，水權法規是基於「河岸權」原則，也就是說，任何擁有河流土地的人，都可以平等且「合理地」使用河水。

In the drier Western U.S., where water is much scarcer and more valuable, however, legal water rights are based around the prior appropriation doctrine instead, which established a hierarchy of seniority that granted the rights to use water from rivers from whoever began using the water from them first, and

然而，在較乾旱的美國西部，水資源稀缺且價值更高，水權法規則基於「優先使用權」原則。這個原則建立了一個資深級別的層級，賦予了最先開始使用河流水源的人使用權，

those senior water rights holders would continue holding their rights until they stopped using the water.

而這些資深水權持有者，只要他們持續使用水，就會一直保有他們的水權。

The settlers and farmers who came to the Southwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the ones who acquired most of these senior water rights early on, and

在 19 世紀末和 20 世紀初來到西南部定居的拓荒者和農民，就是早期獲得大部分這些資深水權的人，

then they were only incentivized by the system to continue guzzling all of their water from the rivers even if they didn't actually need it, because if they stopped using all the water they were allowed to, they'd just lose their rights to it.

而當時的制度只會鼓勵他們繼續大量取用河水，即使他們實際上並不需要，因為如果他們停止使用所有被允許的水量，他們就會失去這些權利。

And the farmers would continue holding their senior rights even during times of water shortages in favor of anybody who came to the area after them with lower seniority, like the millions upon millions of people that eventually came to settle in southwestern cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and

即使在缺水時期，農民也會繼續保有他們的資深水權，而優先於任何後來來到該地區、資深級別較低的人，像是後來定居在鳳凰城、拉斯維加斯等西南部城市，數以百萬計的人們，

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