A Utah town is running dry. Its solution stoked an age-old water war

Cedar City proposes to pump water from valleys outside the county, a plan opponents fear would irreversibly harm delicate ecosystems

The ground in Cedar Valley is sinking and splintering. Fissures that snake through the region are a visible sign of Utah's water woes, and the result of years spent overdrawing from an underground aquifer that supplies the area.

And yet Cedar City, at the heart of the valley, continues to grow. Visitors flock to nearby national parks such as Zion and Bryce Canyon, adding to the flow of new residents expected to move here in the coming years. Cedar City is already the most populous in Utah's Iron county, and finding more water has become an existential quest.