OldManOnFire

Excerpt from this website: FOXNews.com - Adios, Las Vegas: Lakes Mead, Powell May Run Dry by 2021 - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News


I believe this serves 100% of the water for Las Vegas, most of the water for Phoenix/AZ, and 30-40% of the water for southern CA.

Not only is water a potential issue, but once the lake water reaches a certain level, the dams will no longer be able to produce electricity.

The greater Phoenix and Las Vegas areas have been, and continue to be, the fastest growing areas of the USA. Further, the entire southwest US is a high growth area.

Yet in spite of these warnings, some of which go back several years, state after state, county after county, city after city, continue to encourage and to approve more growth.

Since this potential disaster can affect tens of millions of people, and destroy the US economy, critical areas both of which the federal government should be concerned...they also don't seem to care.


No matter where one lives in the USA, if Nevada, Arizona, and especially California do experience this horrific potential, you will not be able to escape the disastrous outcome.

As with other issues, it's simply amazing to me how US citizens, and our illustrious federal government, simply don't give a rip. There's not even a discussion about 'what if this happens'...it's just completely ignored.

Questions:

What the hell is wrong with us?

When did we become so stupid?

When did we become so complacent?

Why can't we move beyond our self-serving lifestyles for a few seconds and give some rational and intelligent thought to such horrific potentials?

Or are all these possibilities, like the lakes drying up, or global climate changes, or the finite supply of oil, etc. just a bunch of BS?

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DRS112

Good...seriously...those areas are only growing so fast artificially...the climates cannot support large populations of people...especially ones that want to live as if they were in more moderate regions....

why do you think the northern states were the more heavily populated ones for so long? Because people liked winter?

Rigged

maybe all those people in Arizonia should realize lawns don't grow in the desert

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BillCosby

I don't see how it can change.............

If rich ppl want to build a golf course in the middle of the desert they can.... If they need water & can afford it they get it..... Even if they waste every fucking drop.. That is their right. They are Americans & this is a free country.............. If poor ppl cannot afford to pay for their water who's fault is that.........

Water, like healthcare & electricity is not a right........ it is a commodity.......

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DRS112

No it's not...the water is not privately owned(unless it's well water, but it's not in this case)....but if it comes to the point where poor or middle class people can't afford to live there they need to move...cost is one of the biggest motivators in persuading people to move from areas that are otherwise inhospitable to humans....What's the alternative? Force the government to import water from elsewhere and make it cheap? Ya think people will say to themselves..."you know the weather here is mostly nice, and the water is cheap...but you know we outta move...this aint right for the environment."


The government can ration the water....

BillCosby

I am all for it..... Not sure were you live but here water is always an issue..... ALthough a hypocritical one.......

Hear as in most places a front lawn in not an option. You gotta have grass.. I am right now going to go kayaking on the only undamed river in calif....... It use to run year (18 years ago or so) round down on the valley floor. Now the water just sinks into the depleted aquifer when it gets to down from the foothills. I have some property on the north folk of the river & it has never been dry that I have seen up there in the foothills....

So I will drive past all the green lawns out to highway 5........ & the irrigated on ramps........ All the landscape is watered & looks like your in Washington state or the north coast.. Ask Dr........ He lives here to........

The fish are missing in the delta & la wants more water.. Oh & I wont be doing any salmon fishing this season. Last season was the lowest on record..............

cya..............

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OldManOnFire

A lot of these areas have 20% or more growth!

I think the northern and the northeastern states were once more populated because people had not yet ventured out west. It wasn't until the early 1900's that lots of people headed west. And certainly big time after WWII. I also believe lots of people were farmers or ranchers and these areas although colder do grow lots of produce.

My father was born and raised on a farm in MN in 1908 and he hated the cold so much that he headed west the day he turned 18...

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

OldManOnFire

I hear what you are saying but it's not just AZ. Except for very few areas in the entire western US, most all of it is either desert or high desert...all of which has a scarcity of water.

Oil and it's by-products allows us to enjoy a certain lifestyle.

Water...without it...we die

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...

BillCosby

LOL........ That is cold............. We call the 50's cold here...........

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

OldManOnFire

Sure there will always be the people with enough resources to build anywhere and this is definitely, up to the point of the municipalities providing occupancy permits, their choice.

But these areas of the southwestern US probably have 90% middle and lower income so we're talking about tens of millions of people who cannot afford much more than they are dealing with today.

Yes water is a commodity...but people buy homes in which the municipalities supposedly reviewed and approved all development, and it is assumed that the local governments will make sure electricity, water and sewage treatment are in place and functioning. Is this blind faith--sure!

The real issue here is that if something like Lake Mead drying up really happens, it won't make any difference where the blame is placed since the entire SW will be screwed...

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Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...