WATER SHORTAGE COMING--SERIOUSLY.

Here's another one for the "Things We Ought To Be Paying Attention to But Aren't" file. I won't even set this up beyond the headline above. Just have a look at this cutting from an AP.org article at MyWay.com from a week ago covering the coming, nationwide water shortage:

An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year.

Across America, the picture is critically clear - the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.

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."

I don't know--based on how well the US of A deals with crisiseseses (like Katrina, the recent wildfires and more) I'm thinking we should treat this like a crisis now so it doesn't become something that results in deaths and (according to how most of us behave these days) worse: a lot of lost money.

The article goes on to say some pretty idiotic things. Check it out:

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.

Ha! That's a laugh, isn't it? We're spending around a trillion US dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and this reporter (Brian Skoloff) seems to think a measly $300 billion is "staggering". I wish!

After all, this is OUR WATER SUPPLY. You'd think we'd be putting that above our "fight" against "terror" but NOPE, better to be secure than, you know, alive.

It's great living on a planet led by children.

And coming from a guy as childish as me, that's saying a lot. I mean, my blog's logo is me at 7 months old, for crying out loud. When the pot has to call the kettle black because the kettle keeps applying layer upon layer of black paint, it gets pretty sad.

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