our global future when the river runs dry

So is your book an explicit reaction to that? John Fleck Plenty of stories about water in the West argue that there’s a looming crisis. We talked by phone recently about his new book, why he’s cautiously optimistic about the West, and how a region that’s perpetually water-stressed might cope with the very serious threat of global warming. But learning from those successes is crucial if places like Phoenix and Los Angeles and Las Vegas and the Imperial Valley (which supplies a huge chunk of our fruits and vegetables) are to survive a hotter, drier future.įleck, who is now Director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico, has long been one of my go-to reads for understanding water in the West. Farmers and cities in the West have shown an impressive ability to adapt and even cooperate across state lines to overcome water scarcity. Yes, the West faces daunting water problems, particularly as climate change starts to shrivel up the crucial Colorado River, which supplies water to seven states from Colorado to California. Even in the face of scarce water and apocalyptic fears, communities have managed to adapt and thrive in surprising ways. As longtime water reporter John Fleck argues in his thought-provoking new book, Water Is for Fighting Over, the constant doom and gloom about water in the West misses something extremely important that’s been going on in recent years. But it’s not always an entirely accurate story. Now Mother Nature is showing us the folly of our ways. In the 20th century, humans brazenly built vast dams and reservoirs in this dry region to sustain irrigation districts and golf courses and fountains in Las Vegas.

The West’s water woes can even seem like karmic retribution. With California facing the worst drought in the historical record and Lake Mead dropping to its lowest level ever, there are plenty of worries that the region’s vast agricultural regions will one day wither and cities will run dry. Which is why reporters writing about water issues in the American West are often attracted to the prospect of apocalypse - that the region is going to run out of water someday. For a journalist, few things make better headlines than a good resource crisis.

Our global future when the river runs dry