LAS VEGAS – Sin City may look like a lush water-waster as the state endures its fourth year of a severe drought, but casino-resorts say their fountains and greenery are well-crafted illusions. The vice president of sustainability for MGM Resorts International, Chris Brophy, told a panel of the Nevada Drought Forum on Friday that through a variety of conservation efforts since 2008 the company has saved 2 billion gallons of water, equal to the amount of water that spills over Niagara Falls in four hours.

Brophy said the company’s Bellagio fountain show and Cirque du Soleil’s indoor water-show “O” use on-site recycled well water and that the Aria resort’s outdoor wall of water wastes less than a residential pool.

The company has 15 properties on the Las Vegas Strip, and Brophy said all of them combined use less water annually than the company’s 52,000 employees.