11 Cities May Completely Run Out Of Water Sooner Than You Think

[Snowman]

I heard about a couple articles that summarize a study on US watersheds

11 Cities May Completely Run Out Of Water Sooner Than You Think - (discuses the major cities at most risk)

Nearly One In 10 U.S. Watersheds Is 'Stressed'; Demand For Water Outpacing Supply - (more just general highlights)

(Map indicating how stressed a watershed is to produce supply amount demanded)

[tomokc]

Huffington Post. 'nuf said.

What about the "11 cities that MAY NOT completely run out of water sooner than you think."

And what is the difference between running out of water and completely running out of water?

I make the motion that this be moved to Politics.

[bchris02]

I don't understand how Cleveland made the list. The Great Lakes are fresh water - they have a plentiful source. Both Southern and Northern California have the option, though an expensive one, of desalination if push comes to shove. Same with Houston. I would say Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are realistically the cities that have the most to be worried about.

[Stew]

Yeah, I wondered the same about Cleveland but then again I don't know squat about municipal water supplies.

[Snowman]

I don't understand how Cleveland made the list. The Great Lakes are fresh water - they have a plentiful source. Both Southern and Northern California have the option, though an expensive one, of desalination if push comes to shove. Same with Houston. I would say Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are realistically the cities that have the most to be worried about.

I thought a couple of those on their list seemed unlikely and had pretty significant rivers that flow by that went by untapped as a source of drinking/municipal water, I was guessing they might not have had rights or were just not a first option due to pollution or other quality issues but the topic overall was worth bringing up.

[Just the facts]

The analysis done by the author is a bit suspect as evidenced by his take on Miami.

I was guessing they might not have had rights...

This is the case with Atlanta, although it wasn't mentioned in the section on Atlanta. Canton, a northern suburb, built their own lake to ensure the survival of their city but they went into so much debt building that they had to sell off all the water rights, and they still didn't cover the cost of construction. So now they have all the expense and none of the water. Lake Lanier is main source of drinking water for Atlanta but most of the water is accounted for by entities downstream, with Florida being the biggest rights holder. A few years ago Georgia tried to claim their border was incorrectly drawn and wanted to a lay claim to about a mile of the Tennessee River so they could draw water from it.

Also, OKC should have been on this list.

[venture]

Huffington Post. 'nuf said.

What about the "11 cities that MAY NOT completely run out of water sooner than you think."

And what is the difference between running out of water and completely running out of water?

I make the motion that this be moved to Politics.

Huff Post isn't 100% political...same as Fox News. People that immediately shut down to either one should banish themselves to Politics.

I don't understand how Cleveland made the list. The Great Lakes are fresh water - they have a plentiful source. Both Southern and Northern California have the option, though an expensive one, of desalination if push comes to shove. Same with Houston. I would say Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are realistically the cities that have the most to be worried about.

I believe a lot comes down to infrastructure and also the fact that that area has been stressed with drought for the last few summers. For a time Lake Erie was running pretty low and there is only so much water they are allowed to pull from it.

[ou48A]

We should be far more concerned about running out of water for our nations aquiculture than for our city’s.
We can move people and business out of our city’s but you can not move our farm fields that need irrigation.

[BoulderSooner]

Okc. Not so much