Where Once Water Ran
“Water, water, water….There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount , a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
Fresh water may well be the new gold one day in the not so distant future, especially in the southwest.
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I just love that quote. And, we find man ignores his quote and nature to build cities where they should not be. We are all paying a huge price for those choices.
Thanks, Monte! Reading articles about the ever-worsening Colorado River water crisis, seeing this photo in my archives, and coming across this quote all felt like timely coincidences. Water is a rapidly approaching crisis for the Southwest, but it is worsening for everyone due to declining water tables and enormous near-future technology-related demands for cooling data centers. I don’t think the bill for our shortsighted choices has come due yet, but it soon will.