The City of Albuquerque Water Conservation Office is offering a $500 rebate for residents who switch from a swamp cooler to refrigerated air. (I live outside the city limits.)
Swamp coolers, which nearly all homes in Albuquerque have, even those valued at $1 million and more, run water through straw pads (better coolers use cellulose). A fan sucks outside air through the pads, using evaporation to cool the air. The air is then blown through the house. When the humidity is low (which is most of the time in Albuquerque), swamp coolers are pretty effective. They are, however, about as rinky-dink as something can be.
And in Albuquerque alone they use an estimated 4 billion gallons of water a year — 10% of the city’s water usage.