Lloyd and I have traveled all around Mesquite (Nevada) and St. George (Utah) in the past several days and it has been an eye-opener for Lloyd, who has been gone from the Southwest for the past year.
New subdivisions are popping up all over Mesquite and St. George… thousands of new households that will need a lot of the same thing: WA TER.
The big question: Where is that water going to come from?
We live in a what? A desert that is in the midst of a decades-long drought. The great natural aqueduct that moistens this part of America, the Colorado River drainage, ain’t what she used to be and the massive reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead are drying up quite rapidly. There is less water coming down the river from the Rockies and there are more thirsty cities along the route that need increasing amounts of water.
Rainfall that normally moistens the desert in the Southwest is diminished, so recharge of underground water-bearing strata (the groundwater aquifer) is almost negligible. Wells that tap these aquifers for agriculture and municipal needs, like here in Mesquite, are having to search deeper underground and are becoming less productive. Some have gone dry already.
Bottom line: We have diminishing snowmelt in the Rockies and drier conditions in the desert, resulting in a very questionable future for life-sustaining water resources in this part of the country.
So, what is the response of local government to this existential problem? Allow the construction of thousands of more homes in the region.
Go figure.
It is quite evident what has been going on in the past year. The home building industry has “put the pedal to the metal” in constructing as many homes as possible before the shit hits the fan. In this case, that would be water restrictions by the local municipal water districts, followed by building moratoriums enacted by municipalities… after the cow has escaped the barn!
The big builders, like Pulte here in Mesquite, want to make their money and get the Hell out of Dodge before the locals begin storming the City Council meetings carrying lit torches and pitchforks. Water rationing is as welcome as a fart in church, and people are going to want to know why the city fathers approved all those new homes in the past five years with no reasonable expectation of adequate water down the road.
This situation is not unique to Mesquite, Nevada or St. George, Utah. It is happening all over the Southwest as the drought lingers and homebuilding continues at a rapid rate. Local governments all over the Southwest have been whistling in the graveyard for many years, pretending that there was no problem… when they knew that there was. Unfortunately, the mother’s milk of politics is money provided by the deep-pocketed construction industry. The quid pro quo to being elected is that you look the other way when bad things are going down, much like the NRA-supported politicians do when some doofus sprays 4-year-old children in their schoolroom with an assault rifle.
So, we in the West have a huge problem a-brewin’. If the current drought continues (as it is predicted in Global Warming scenarios), a catastrophe is in the offing much like the water shortage that caused the ancient Navajo people (the Anasazi) to abandon their communities about 900 years ago not that far from here.
Sustained drought, no water, no life… the party’s over.
Some real creative thinking would be needed to solve the problem even if city-building stopped tomorrow all across the Southwest. There simply is not enough water to nourish the homes, businesses, and agriculture that sustain our economy and way of life. We need to replace the lost Colorado River water and recharge the groundwater aquifers which have been mined to the point of minimal production.
De-salinization of sea water is the obvious answer, but something that massive in scale would require political will that is probably not realistic in today’s society. Many other countries, particularly in the Middle East, are de-salinizing water for municipal purposes. It is expensive at this time, with the technology available, but “you do what you have to do” to survive.
Those megalopolises on the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco) are situated adjacent to the largest source of sea water in the world. The enormous economy of California could afford the infrastructure that it would take to convert sea water to potable water.
Laws would have to be enacted to allow the infrastructure to be built quickly. Political compromises would have to be made. If not, a ballot proposition, putting the matter direct to the voters, could provide the legal basis for State government to permit construction of the facilities required, which might also require nuclear power plants to supply the energy needed.
Expensive, sure. But money is no issue in California.
Here in Mesquite we cannot expect Santa Claus to rescue us with de-salinized water piped in from the Pacific Ocean. We are down to just a couple of options: Prayer (that we will be delivered from the Drought) or… Stop Building All of Those F’ing New Houses!!
This is serious time, Everyone.
I just hope that I don’t die of thirst out here in the desert: it would be a crummy way to croak.
