Well stated, although “stupid” might be harsh. In the 80’s I watched in disbelief as a large housing development was constructed on a desert hillside that was known to locals as a flood zone. Within 5 years, a flood destroyed many of those new homes, to the surprise of nobody familiar with the area.
I can only guess that greed and corruption paved the way for the permits, and that the buyers were not informed of the location’s history.
Click the archive link to read the entire article - it’s definitely worth the time.
Also, as much as I thought I knew about the Colorado River and the western United States water crisis, fuuuuuuuuck this is so much worse!