4 ms·

Not sure making residential decisions based on SF novels is a wise idea. Arizona has been one of the fastest growing states for many years now. So has nevada an

by qiskit 4y ago

Not sure making residential decisions based on SF novels is a wise idea. Arizona has been one of the fastest growing states for many years now. So has nevada and utah. If the population and economic activity is there, the water will find its way there one way or another.

photochemsyn 4y ago
When you go to turn on the tap and nothing comes out, the next thing that happens is that economic activity grinds to a halt, much as it does when the power supply goes down. Who wants to visit Nevada if there's no water in your hotel to take a shower, just drinking water only? Now, maybe if the snowpack is gone and the rivers are dry someone could set up a gigantic solar desalination plant on the California coast and start producing water to be piped to Nevada and Arizona... which would need more gigantic solar plants to produce the electricity to power the pumps. Someone will have to pay for that, and the costs will be pretty high. Probably higher than the revenue from the tourism or agriculture in the region. What happens then? People leave the region.
PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
SF novels can be a way to explore the possible outcomes of decisions, technological changes, environmental change and more. "The Water Knife" is a well-informed book that covers a lot of ground. There are plenty of non-fiction books that cover the same on-the-ground truth, but don't bother to speculate on how things might evolve from here. To your point, the book specifically floats a "vision" of a new kind of housing development in Las Vegas and Phoenix that the book calls "arcologies" but you might think of them as high-end earthships for the ultra-wealthy. They use very little outside water, endlessly internally recycling almost every drop of moisture within them. Accessible only to the ultra rich. I personally find this a much more believable idea and much less sci-fi than the notion that Nevada, Arizona etc. will receive water via a multi-thousand mile long, multi-thousand foot elevation spanning pipeline. I think you may be underestimating the challenge of bringing water to the US southwest. Also, as I've mentioned several times in this thread, without commercial agriculture, there essentially would be no water issues here. When 77% of your water is being used to irrigate crops, most of which are exported from your region ... you've got a different kind of problem.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  I've read it too. Regarding the Arcology things in the desert, and the unlikely water pipelines, I thought it to be more likely(economically) that the ultra rich would go for seasteading instead.
ttyprintk 4y ago
How much would you bet?

by qiskit 4y ago

photochemsyn 4y ago

When you go to turn on the tap and nothing comes out, the next thing that happens is that economic activity grinds to a halt, much as it does when the power supply goes down. Who wants to visit Nevada if there's no water in your hotel to take a shower, just drinking water only? Now, maybe if the snowpack is gone and the rivers are dry someone could set up a gigantic solar desalination plant on the California coast and start producing water to be piped to Nevada and Arizona... which would need more gigantic solar plants to produce the electricity to power the pumps. Someone will have to pay for that, and the costs will be pretty high. Probably higher than the revenue from the tourism or agriculture in the region. What happens then? People leave the region.

PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago

SF novels can be a way to explore the possible outcomes of decisions, technological changes, environmental change and more. "The Water Knife" is a well-informed book that covers a lot of ground. There are plenty of non-fiction books that cover the same on-the-ground truth, but don't bother to speculate on how things might evolve from here. To your point, the book specifically floats a "vision" of a new kind of housing development in Las Vegas and Phoenix that the book calls "arcologies" but you might think of them as high-end earthships for the ultra-wealthy. They use very little outside water, endlessly internally recycling almost every drop of moisture within them. Accessible only to the ultra rich. I personally find this a much more believable idea and much less sci-fi than the notion that Nevada, Arizona etc. will receive water via a multi-thousand mile long, multi-thousand foot elevation spanning pipeline. I think you may be underestimating the challenge of bringing water to the US southwest. Also, as I've mentioned several times in this thread, without commercial agriculture, there essentially would be no water issues here. When 77% of your water is being used to irrigate crops, most of which are exported from your region ... you've got a different kind of problem.

LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
I've read it too. Regarding the Arcology things in the desert, and the unlikely water pipelines, I thought it to be more likely(economically) that the ultra rich would go for seasteading instead.

ttyprintk 4y ago

How much would you bet?