Peak Water in the US South?

[Jacob]

Article here: http://scienceblogs.com/significantfigures/index.php/2013/08/19/peak-water-in-the-american-west/

Factual? Hyperbolic hysteria? Somewhere in between?

What says languish - and especially languishites living in the (allegedly) affected areas?

[Jacob]

... okay, the article says "US West" not South.

[Habbaku]

... okay, the article says "US West" not South.

  Was wondering.  Though the last several years have been drought-prone, this past year has been one of the wettest for Georgia that I can recall.

[Viking]

The Colorado River basin has water issues film at 23.

[Habbaku]

As for the article, I don't see anything glaringly wrong with it, but I have never studied the issues terribly deeply--just a few articles here and there about the same problems, year-in, year-out.

The recommendations at the end (high efficiency washers, a cultural shift away from water-intensive lawn-care and farming) seem pretty reasonable to me.

[CountDeMoney]

It's the environment, Xiacob.  Nobody gives a shit.

[Razgovory]

I take issue with the phrase "peak water" as it invokes the idea of peak oil a distinctly different concept.  Water is a fairly renewable resource while petroleum is not.  That's not merely a pedantic thing, it means that the solutions to the scarcity of these resources can be addressed in different ways.  Only other gripe is the thing about Fracking which seems to be just another trendy bugbear at the moment.


That said, there is a serious issue of water shortages in the Southwest, probably due mostly to overpopulation and poor planning.

[The Larch]

Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

[Valmy]

It's the environment, Xiacob.  Nobody gives a shit.

It is a pretty serious problem in Texas.  I think it is going to be what eventually finally caps our growth.

It was so serious the Tea Party spent considerable political effort telling us that big government is not the solution to the water problems...because the private sector will solve it for profit or something.

[CountDeMoney]

"This drought relief program has been brought to you by Haliburton:  Solving Challenges"

[Razgovory]

It's the environment, Xiacob.  Nobody gives a shit.

It is a pretty serious problem in Texas.  I think it is going to be what eventually finally caps our growth.

It was so serious the Tea Party spent considerable political effort telling us that big government is not the solution to the water problems...because the private sector will solve it for profit or something.

I imagine it's harder for people to hand wave the water shortages then it is to hand wave the idea of global climate change.

[garbon]

I think it'd be nice if the southwest dropped the manicured lawns bit and generally went bank to just desert landscapes. Grass looks ridiculous and is super expensive to maintain out there.

[Valmy]

I think it'd be nice if the southwest dropped the manicured lawns bit and generally went bank to just desert landscapes. Grass looks ridiculous and is super expensive to maintain out there.

No shit.  BUt the pressure to maintain one is immense when everybody else on the block has one

[MadBurgerMaker]

No shit.  BUt the pressure to maintain one is immense when everybody else on the block has one

Also when the douchebags in the homeowners association get all pissy when you let it die over the summer.    

My grass is still mostly hanging on somehow this summer though.  I haven't watered it at all except the part up by my bushes that get watered with the drip hose thing once a week. 

[Valmy]

No shit.  BUt the pressure to maintain one is immense when everybody else on the block has one

Also when the douchebags in the homeowners association gets all pissy when you let it die over the summer.    

Yeah...WTF?  Summer is my break from mowing people

I mean you have to spend money and work hard to get your damn grass to grow...so then you can spend money and work hard to cut it.  Just pisses me off.