Bad American

“We’ve Hit A Remarkable Moment”

Associated Press

I have to admit the first thing I thought of was how the right will spin this as some kind of socialist plot against swimming pools owned by the moneyed class.

I say that advisedly - my family had an in the ground swimming pool which proved to be a $5,000 folly that was destroyed by the earthquake of 1985. But I digress.

Anyway, its very hard to spin this as much of Georgia and the Piedmont states are down to about 60 days worth of water supply. If Atlanta runs out of water, not all the bottled water in the world is going to help a metro area of 4 million people.

From the story:

The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.

“Is it a crisis? If we don’t do some decent water planning, it could be,” said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association.

Water managers will need to take bold steps to keep taps flowing, including conservation, recycling, desalination and stricter controls on development.

“We’ve hit a remarkable moment,” said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency.”

The price tag for ensuring a reliable water supply could be staggering. Experts estimate that just upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.

“Unfortunately, there’s just not going to be any more cheap water,” said Randy Brown, Pompano Beach’s utilities director.

It’s not just America’s problem — it’s global.

That first paragraph of the story segment is the one most likely to drive the capitalist right nuts. What? Sprawl?! Sprawl is GOOD! The right people make money, which is next to Godliness! People WANT sprawl! Our whole economy depends on suburban sprawl. This is obviously some socialist plot to destroy our sacred non-negotiable way of life!

They will gladly take the world down with them, of course. And let’s not forget how many of these folks believe the human race cannot destroy the planet because, well, only God can do that. Right?

The biggest problem will be being honest with the American people. You cannot save our ‘non-negotiable way of life.’ It is ending and will end. We can do this the hard way and be in denial until it becomes a catastrophe or we can sober up and make some painful but necessary changes in our lifestyles for the sake of our children and future generations.

The other specter is the very real possibility that oil wars will be subsumed by water wars as countries with ‘non-negotiable’ lifestyles fight world wars for water.

We need brave leadership in Washington and, again, hate to be cynical but I won’t hold my breath. Perhaps Atlanta has run dry before people in this country will wake up.