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The Water Wars of Arizona (2018)
- mooreds 7y agoTwo notes. 1. This is from 2018. 2. If this interests you, read "The Water Knife", a fantastic science fiction novel about water wars in the near future.
- sambull 7y agoI can tell it will ballon soon, from all the CA secession movements trying to split water resources. It's going to get messy.
- paulie_a 7y agoYeah but those secession movements have zero chance of success. And longer term if the zero percent chance actually happens they would be begging the us to come back.
- paulie_a 7y agoThere was an idea to build a water pipe from Wisconsin to Vegas because...reasons Apparently they needed water for fountains and golf courses.
- MrMorden 7y agoThat's not from _The Water Knife_; it's in an earlier Bacigalupi short story, "The Tamarisk Hunter".
- paulie_a 7y agoI thought it was tangentially related. This happened in reality but thanks for incorrecting me
- mooreds 7y agoArt imitates life (or vice versa): https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-california-drought-great-lakes-water-compact-lake-michigan-edit-0426-bd-20150424-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-califor...
- gwynn 7y agoAs a Phoenix resident, few books have disturbed me as deeply as The Water Knife. A most plausible dystopia in my own backyard. Gives me chills.
- hueving 7y agoAs a Phoenix resident, the water relevant to you is the Colorado river. You are along for the same boat ride as southern California and Las Vegas. You're even slightly advantaged over those other two because of the aquifer under Phoenix.
- paulcole 7y agoI’ve long had the idea for a waterless toilet — think a cat’s litter box but for people — that would be required for use in desert cities. Think it could really be a game changer.
- Scoundreller 7y agoThere’s a few: incinerating and composting. And other very low water designs, like in jetliners. Toilets aren’t too problematic: you can use treated sewage for irrigation or golf courses. It’s the losses to evaporation (farming) that really consumes water from an area.
- paulcole 7y agoI was thinking that it is partly punitive. If you want to live in one of those places (and contribute to the rest of the waste of water there) you’re going to have to use a litter box to prove you really want it. I would phase this in over time — i.e. no new construction or remodeled structures can include a toilet.
- antepodius 7y agoYou're squabbling over drops while oceans go to industrial farming. The people who make money off the megafarms aren't going to be punished by your measures.
- paulcole 7y agoNow that’s an idea. If you own a business in an un-eco-friendly field you have to use a litter box.
- yowlingcat 7y agoMaybe fixing the structural root of the problem is more effective than coming up with fun punitive solutions that don't really work.
- PorterDuff 7y agoFrom the title, I thought it was going to be about Tombstone vs. the Forest Service.
- slimsag 7y agoI live in Arizona. The people commenting here suggesting anyone living in a desert should be 'punished' and forced to live without toilets are completely out of touch with reality. Golf courses, lawns, and toilets are not the issue. Rural Arizona, in the middle of nowhere in a cotton field? Yeah, you might not have well water. And that's definitely an issue. But Arizona is not going to run out of water anytime soon. We're likely in a far better water-diverse situation than CA is already, because we've been thinking about water for a _long_ time and have some of the best water infrastructure in the U.S. Where does it go? Arizona has 26 _million_ acres of farms and ranches, that is where: - 70% of our water is directed towards agriculture. - We produce 90% of the USA's leafy greens. - Our cattle industry alone produces 8 _million_ meals annually (pop. 7.1 million). - 360 million eggs annually - Our agriculture industry is $23.3bn, supporting 162,000 workers (40% of which are women, and 18k indigenous farmers/ranchers), We aren't conserving water, we're spending it because it is a valuable industry for the (unfortunately) extremely poor immigrants and others here. But there aren't signs in our bathrooms to use less water washing our hands. You don't have to ask for a glass of water at restaurants -- because these things _don't matter_. Want to conserve water in Arizona? You'd be talking about gutting the entire state's agriculture industry and destroying millions of people's lives. We can diversify our water supply, and we do. It's not stupidity and lax regulation, it's a calculated risk and choice by the people living here whose lives are built on agriculture.
- gwynn 7y agoThis is an incredibly shortsighted outlook on Arizona's reckless water usage. The bulk of our water comes from the Colorado River which is a lifeline for not just us, but for over 40 million people across six different rapidly growing states. Snowpack for the river is at its lowest level in 30+ years and is projected to decrease an additional 30% due to climate change over the next two decades. As a lower-basin state, we are "investing" water which we don't actually own. Sooner or later lake Mead is going to hit an elevation of 1,075ft and the federal government will mandate that lower-basin states such as our own face the music. Will it be our blood or the state's billions that suffer? To avoid this future, all we must do is work together to scale-down our agricultural industry in favor of other economic avenues. This pointless "calculated risk" which threatens the future of America's fifth largest city and its surrounding neighbors can be undone. Sadly, I fear that the current administration under Doug Ducey cares more about leafy greens than our children's future.
- WalterBright 7y agoMeanwhile, it seems the southeast is drowning in floods.