Are We Doomed?

I read a very clickbaity story this morning: The day America runs short of water may be closer than expected.

It formed a disparate, dystopian view of our future, a mix of Mad Max and The Grapes of Wrath, in which proverbial wagon trains of people flee drought-stricken areas for water-rich enclaves guarded by local militias.

The story, which carried a byline but certainly seemed to have more than a little AI input, outlined how this water-restricted future will unfold through a series of 12 cascading events:

1. Major cities will face rolling water shut-offs within the next decade.
2. Grocery store shelves will empty as agriculture collapses in major food-producing regions.
3. Mass population migrations will create climate refugee camps within U.S. borders. 
   “Temporary camps will spring up along major highways as families abandon homes they can’t sell in waterless communities.”
4. Energy grids will fail as power plants shut down due to cooling water shortages.
5. Interstate water wars will trigger the first domestic resource conflicts since the Civil War. 
   “Legal battles over water rights will escalate into physical confrontations between states. Colorado River compact negotiations have already devolved into bitter disputes, but future conflicts will involve armed federal intervention.”
6. Underground water mining will create massive sinkholes that swallow entire neighborhoods.
7. Wealthy communities will hoard water while poor areas become uninhabitable deserts. 
   “Class divisions will harden into impermeable barriers between the hydrated and the thirsty.”
8. Black market water trafficking will become more profitable than drug smuggling. 
   “Armed guards will protect reservoirs and treatment plants while ordinary citizens resort to siphoning from fire hydrants and stealing from neighbors.”
9. Technology companies will abandon Silicon Valley as tech workers flee water shortages.
10. Americans will drink recycled sewage water as the new standard for survival.
    “Children will grow up considering recycled sewage as normal drinking water, representing a fundamental shift in American expectations about resource abundance.”
11. Massive desalination plants will transform coastal cities into water-exporting powerhouses.
    “Nuclear-powered desalination plants will operate 24/7, creating enough freshwater to supply entire states.”
12. Individual households must immediately install rainwater collection and graywater recycling systems.
    “Installing rain barrels, cisterns and graywater recycling becomes as essential as having smoke detectors.”

I’m not sure there will ever be a civil war fought over water, or whether black market water trafficking will ever be an actual thing, but that does indeed paint a dark picture. The last three points on the list, however, seem more like solutions we’re already developing rather than signs of the end times.

Smart irrigation controllers, desalination plants and recycled wastewater don’t paint quite the ugly picture the story supposes it to be. The water industry is full of technology that people heading West during the Great Depression never could have imagined. It’s an industry constantly developing new solutions to evolving threats. Recycled sewage doesn’t sound appealing, but that’s more an engineered acceleration of the normal water cycle than a decline in sanitation, and it surely beats dying of dehydration. It might even allow those who remain to keep watering their lawns.

Here’s hoping the thirsty never have to go to war against the hydrated.

Enjoy this month’s issue.