In this post, I return to a subject that I have blogged on before. The topic is again very timely: It is the worsening water shortage in the American Southwest states due to the ongoing “Mega-drought” that is afflicting the area. This problem was severe a few years ago, but a brief wet period alleviated the slide into a deeper water shortage crisis. Now the Mega-drought is asserting itself with new force. If it continues much longer, governments and citizens in the Southwestern states will have some hard choices to make.
The first link is from USA Today, hardly a right-wing or alarmist newspaper. It is long been a Leftist publication. However, it is sounding an appropriate alarm for the Southwest states. It warns of a power generation and water supply crisis that will affect millions of people in primarily seven states: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California. The article also warns about reductions in food supplies due to irrigation water supplies being at increasing risk. It warns that Lakes Powell and Mead now contain only 1/3rd their usual amounts of water and that a dreaded “dead pool” situation is drawing near–perhaps as early as late 2026. A “dead pool” situation will exist when there is so little water left in those reservoirs that the pipes that send water to hydroelectric generators in the dams go dry. When that happens, the dams stop producing electric power until water levels in the reservoirs rise again. If climatologists are right about the American Southwest being in a Mega-drought cycle, it may be a long wait until water levels in the reservoirs rise to a level where normal electric power generation is possible again.
The USA Today article offers the Left’s usual explanation: that the droughts are the result of man-made climate change. I have strong doubts about the drought being man-made. Climatologists admit that historical and physical evidence indicate that such Megadroughts have happened centuries or millennia ago in the American Southwest. This strongly argues against man-made actions causing the current Mega-drought as previous Megadroughts occurred long before the arrival of the industrial age and the generation of any man-made “greenhouse gases.” Man-made causes clearly did not cause any previous Megadroughts so it is likely the current Mega-drought is a result of long-range cycles in the waxing and waning of rainfall in the semi-arid states of the American Southwest.
The second link offers numerical data confirming the drop in the water levels at Lake Powell. It states the lake’s water level has dropped 31.14 feet in just one year! It also lists boat ramp availability as most of the boat ramps are now unusable due to dropping water levels.
The third link has some apocalyptic findings and possibilities going forward. It asserts that scientific evidence now indicates that the current Mega-droughtMegadrought is the worst megadrought of the past 1,200 years. It discusses the surprising lengths of past Megadroughts, and offers this grim outlook: “The [current] drought could continue at least until the end of the century, if not longer.” It warns that water managers need to prepare for a much drier future. What might that look like?
As I’m sure readers know, water managers in the Southwestern states have had many legal battles when water levels drop. These battles have occurred while there was still some meaningful water to fight over. What if the reservoirs hit their “dead pool” levels and there is no reservoir water to fight over? People must have dependable water supplies to inhabit a semi-arid region and industries must have reliable access to significant water supplies to keep factories open. If no such water is available, people and industries will have no choice but to move to states with adequate and predictable water supplies. Remember the Dust Bowl days in the mid 1930s when people in the central states migrated en masse to California to find jobs and adequate water? We may experience another mass internal American migration wherein Americans move by the millions from the seven “dry” states cited above to other US states which have adequate water supplies.
Such a move would have catastrophic effects for local economies. If millions of people abandon their homes and jobs in the American Southwest, the economies of the dry states will “tank.” With so many people leaving, home and real estate values would plummet and municipalities will be starved for funds to supply basic needs. In an effort to survive years of diminishing water supplies, golf courses and green lawns will become only a memory. Private swimming pools (and maybe even public pools) will have to close. Severe fines could be put in place for those with “excessive” water use. Also, the states where millions are fleeing to will have their own problems. Housing for the newcomers will be hard to find, and employment opportunities will be uncertain until factories get relocated from the dry states.
As water supplies dwindle, actual fights over water can be expected. Some industries that are very dependent on abundant electricity and/or water (cryptos, AI, computer chip manufacture, etc.) will need to close up shop and relocate when they cannot obtain essential electricity and water to function. If corporations and government entities begin to default on their bond and loan payments, the water and electricity crisis will spread to a much wider financial crisis. One could go on and on with likely crises which could occur due to chronic water and electricity shortages, and I’m sure you can think of other problems and traumas that could/will occur when the “dead pool” point is reached.
I’ll offer a bit of good news. There is a readily-available solution, but, so far, governments have had too much lethargy or inertia to prepare for the worsening crises of the continuing Mega-drought. As I have proposed in previous posts on this topic, the water shortage could be significantly reduced if California, Oregon and Washington offered revenue bonds for sale to investors to build a series of salt-water desalinization plants all along the boundaries of those states with the Pacific Ocean. These states are located right next to the biggest source of water in the world: the Pacific Ocean. It won’t run dry. West Coast states could build many desalinization plants not only to satisfy their own residents but also to build enough plants to sell water to the inland “dry” states. Even Texas could build desalinization plants to purify and sell water from the Gulf of America to inland dry states at considerable profit to Texas. Such water projects will eliminate many of the crises cited above if actions are taken now in a timely manner. However, the Southwestern states continue to do nothing to prepare for a predictably bad future. The West Coast states should be sure to locate desalinization plants as far away from known earthquake fault zones as possible.
Since experts warn the “dead pool” limit could be reached as soon as next year, there is no time to lose in getting started building desalinization plants. If Saudi Arabia and Israel can build them, so can America. California is in a good position to build many such plants, but that state is paralyzed with such weighty issues as which bathrooms their citizens should use and whether males should be allowed to pretend they are gals and play on female sports teams. Message to government officials in the dry states: No one will care about such issues when they reach the point where they turn on the taps and no water comes out. Then you will see how bad civil unrest can become.
Let’s close with a biblical context. In Deuteronomy 27-28, God gave ancient Israel a list of blessings which they would experience if they obeyed God’s laws, and it also lists curses that would come if they were disobedient to God. One of the curses listed is in Deuteronomy 28:23-24 wherein God promises to send severe droughts upon them due to disobedience. I think that passage could easily be describing a Mega-drought as a punishment for chronic sins. This raises a serious possibility most of modern mankind doesn’t want to consider. The current Mega-drought occurring in the American Southwest may not be caused by man-made climate change or naturally occurring climate cycles. It may be a result of Divine action. If so, don’t expect this Mega-drought to end until people begin to fear God and real repentance happens. Would God cause a Mega-drought? The answer is a clear Yes. I Kings 17 records that the prophet Elijah declared a drought upon ancient Israel due to their sins and the wickedness of King Ahab and his evil wife, Jezebel. For three and one-half years no rain fell anywhere in that northern kingdom of Israel. The land was emptying of its people, its animals, its vegetation, etc. The prophet Elijah called for a Mega-drought upon his own nation and God implemented his request. James 5:17-18 confirms that that ancient Mega-drought lasted three and one-half years. Climatologists are warning the current Mega-drought in the American Southwest could last for decades! It is time people and governments started to take this emerging crisis much more seriously.
