comment: >
  
  It's only going to get worse from here, I'm afraid.
context: Tl;dr: the Southwest is fucked, especially Arizona. >
  
  It's a desert, they don't need Kentucky bluegrass lawns, irrigated corn and alfalfa fields, dairy cows, bazillions of people that only come out at night. >
  
  
  It's a desert, they don't need Kentucky bluegrass lawns, irrigated corn and alfalfa fields, dairy cows, bazillions of people that only come out at night.
  
  Just getting rid of almonds in California would go a long way. Beyond that, we can import from areas better suited to produce those commodities. >
  
  The almonds pay for themselves in $ economic value per acre-ft of irrigation. It's the California corn, alfalfa, rice, safflower, sugar beet, and cotton that will be first to go. >
  
  So it's fine because it makes money? No it's horrible and unsustainable >
  
  Those almonds are producing more calories per acre-ft of irrigation than the wine grapes, the tomatoes or the salad vegetables. And like those, they don't grow well elsewhere in the US.
  Corn, alfalfa, rice, safflower, sugar beets and cotton grow well in other parts of the country, and return less to the California economy.
  Economic productivity of water for crops 
  grown in California in 2010, in $/acre ft
  
  Vinyard          $2470
  Onion/Garlic     $2165
  Tomato           $1652
  Almond/Pistachio $1154
  Cotton           $ 791
  Sugar Beet       $ 629
  Safflower        $ 391
  Rice             $ 374
  Alfalfa          $ 175
  Corn             $ 136
  
  Guess what the #1 water consumer was. It wasn't the almonds, it was the alfalfa. Not for human consumption but for beef and dairy, which in toto consume far more water and have much lower feed conversion efficacy than the almonds.
  Which of these has crops has the best evidence for improving human health? Given whole wheat and legumes aren't grown in quantity in California, its the nuts, with the salad vegetables and fruit (not shown here) trailing shortly behind.
  How do you allocate the water fairly? If the farmers had to bid for it, based on market prices for their product, the corn would be the first to go, then the alfalfa, then the rice... >
  
  I'm more concerned about whether those lakes will completely dry out in the near future. >
  
  I’m more concerned when will cities like Phoenix or Las Vegas enter Cape Town-levels of water scarcity and the inevitable, nightmarish-dystopian rationing of freshwater. >
  
  Vegas does a fantastic job with its water resourcing/reclamation. >
  
  You can post as many facts about the water crisis as you want, but people on Reddit are still going to believe that the only way to solve the water crisis is to nuke Phoenix. >
  
  The early rumblings of the Great Water Wars of the 2030's. >
  
  My son, who is the smartest person I know, told me when he was 15, that there would be water wars. He's 33 now, a biologist and a pharmacist. He was dead to rights. I taught him about climate change from a young age, and when he hit me with that, I was stunned because I had never thought of that part. Then, I thought it wouldn't be in my lifetime. Now I'm 54, and I may well see it. Utterly fucking terrifying. >
  
  I’m 37, didn’t learn about this concept truly until I had an environmental science requirement.
  The lack of water in the Rocky Mountains has been alarming, to say the least, for at least 15 years.  I grew up fishing high lakes in the western states and the level some of them have reached is concerning.
  Add to that the fact that there is a significantly larger drain on those resources from the source, due to the development around these natural and manmade resources, and I see the potential for major arguments between those who are sitting on the water, vs those downstream who think they have a right to it, and we have some real problems. >
  
  “This is the worst water crisis I’ve ever seen!”
  “No, this is the worst water crisis that you’ve seen so far” >
  
  I can’t help but wonder if a looming “once in a thousand year” flood crisis is going to fill the lakes, but kill a lot of people…because that would just be par for the course.