On 6/20/24 6:16 AM, Ryan Petris via PLUG-discuss wrote:
And what are you guys going to do about the coming lack of water?

It's all FUD. If anything, agricultural land uses more water than residential land, and agricultural land is what's getting converted to residential. So every acre converted means less water use.

I think they're making a big deal out of it to make sure we don't lose some water rights from the Colorado river, as California is trying to take a larger portion of it.

I disagree that it is FUD, but there is certainly a lot of blame to go around.

The fact of the matter is, the Colorado River has been drying up due to both over-consumption and drastically reduced snowmelt caused by global heating, and it's affecting the entire region. One wet winter does not magically undo a couple decades of drought (Lake Mead still isn't even remotely close to pre-2000 levels). Just as significantly, other major sources of water in the geographical area are also drying up (word is that the Great Salt Lake will become the Great Salt Puddle, then the Great Arsenic Flats, in less than a decade). Underground water tables are being pumped like there's no tomorrow (similar to oil), with very limited means of replenishing them. And did I mention that snowmelt over the long term and rainfall over the long term are WAY lower than historic norms?

Wreckless and wasteful water use by agriculture is a major problem, to be sure, and certainly the low hanging fruit that we can attack. But to say that agriculture should be taking the brunt of it, and not addressing ALL sources of increased water consumption, is foolish. Maybe the impact won't be as high, but it's still meaningful in aggregate. Per-capita, Arizonans consume more water than most states, and we must do better as a state.[1] And of course California, Nevada and Utah need to do their part too.

1. https://mapazdashboard.arizona.edu/article/arizonas-water-use-sector

And depending who you ask, Phoenix (and Las Vegas) should not exist at all! Having lived here my entire life, I'm starting to agree with that sentimet.

But that's just my 2 cents.