The Age of Thirst in the American West

[marmar]

from TomDispatch:



The Age of Thirst in the American West
Coming to a Theater Near You: The Greatest Water Crisis in the History of Civilization

By William deBuys


Consider it a taste of the future: the fire, smoke, drought, dust, and heat that have made life unpleasant, if not dangerous, from Louisiana to Los Angeles. New records tell the tale: biggest wildfire ever recorded in Arizona (538,049 acres), biggest fire ever in New Mexico (156,600 acres), all-time worst fire year in Texas history (3,697,000 acres).

The fires were a function of drought. As of summer’s end, 2011 was the driest year in 117 years of record keeping for New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana, and the second driest for Oklahoma. Those fires also resulted from record heat. It was the hottest summer ever recorded for New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, as well as the hottest August ever for those states, plus Arizona and Colorado.

Virtually every city in the region experienced unprecedented temperatures, with Phoenix, as usual, leading the march toward unlivability. This past summer, the so-called Valley of the Sun set a new record of 33 days when the mercury reached a shoe-melting 110º F or higher. (The previous record of 32 days was set in 2007.)

And here’s the bad news in a nutshell: if you live in the Southwest or just about anywhere in the American West, you or your children and grandchildren could soon enough be facing the Age of Thirst, which may also prove to be the greatest water crisis in the history of civilization. No kidding. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175475/tomgram%3A_william_debuys%2C_the_parching_of_the_west/#more (follows a brief intro)

[beardown]

2. There is enough water for the 1 percent

The rest, not so much.

[patrice]

3. Move in together. Occupy our work together. Garden, cook & eat together.

Families and local communities FIRST.

[patrice]

4. I'm very angry about the Tar Sands Pipeline & I AM a REASONABLE person!

Frustrated with this stupid DEPENDENCE upon OIL.

And with what Some say, including the thawing of the tundras, and the dirtiest oil there is: tar sands and, eventually, oil shale - that is IF "we" survive CLIMATE-TILTING TAR-SANDS CARBON-FOOTPRINT. . .

and desertification.

[NickB79]

5. How long until we have to start depopulating the Southwest?

Even if you can find enough water for basic needs such as drinking and running the plumbing, you need far more than that to run your factories and power plants.

Long before people start running out of drinking water, the Southwest will have lost most of it's industry and the jobs that those industries supported.

I feel guilty when I think about how we here in the Upper Midwest will probably see a beneficial population and economic boom (at least in the short-term) as people and businesses come here to escape the droughts and heat of the US Southwest.

[Bob Wallace]

6. A couple more years of drought in Texas...

And I think you'll see people leaving.

This drought is killing ranches. They were already in shaky shape as the younger generations are largely not taking up ranching and we had a group of older ranchers. Now these folks are having to sell off their herds.

One doesn't just go to market and get good breeding stock when/if the rains come back. It takes many years to build up good stock. Not every cow can throw a good calf and not every bull is up to the job. We took more than one bull to the meat packer because he was more interested in the other bulls than the cows.

Someone in their 50s, 60s or 70s is not likely to be willing to spend the money (if they've got it) to rebuild. Many won't have the time.

Water shortage doesn't just hurt livestock and lawns. It also means not enough water to cool thermal electricity plants. Coal and nuclear plants have to be shut down if there's not enough water to cool the steam. I seem to recall that Texas had to shut down some of their generation last year in the middle of their hottest weather. That means cutting back on air conditioning and thoughts of moving north.