Well said. The only realistic answer is for people to stop having so many children and let the population reduce to more pragmatic levels. Note: hopefully you don't think republicans are "half" of this country (because that would surely be depressing as hell. lols). In 2020 at their most numerous ever, they were less than 30%. 74 million out of 255 million.
A lot more than 1/2 the country. I know lots of people who say climate change is real and a problem and vote left of center ( or as left as the major options offer) and then say while were flying to France ( or where ever) for vacation this year), or remodeling a room because you must remodel at least one room a year, or buying the latest whatever. ☹
The previous Govenor propped up his budget with the down payment from the Saudi's. He then spent the money. Give that back now ??? Opps, have to raid the AZ Dept of Revenue and then raise taxes on the residents. AGAIN.
@Daniel B Science is always trying to prove or disprove theories. Religion refuses to look inward at its flaws. I'll go with science everyday of the week over religion.
It's not all the farmers....it's the Saudi's. Our Republican reps sold land to the Saudi's so they can grow hay using OUR WATER, bale it and take it back home for their livestock. Our crops go to our residents and residents in the US! We need our crops!
One way (voluntarily and smartly) or another (nature's resources simply stop). Which way do you want to do this people? Willingly or in panic/riot mode where the rich defend their riches and the poor die outside the fences.
I was living in the southwest in the 70's, and even though loved the area, decided to move because I knew water problems would be forthcoming. Glad you saw it also.
Well, as an Arizonan, I just want to say how happy I am that you made the decision not to come. Now if everyone would reclaim their grandparents and parents back to their state. Then maybe if the water shortage gets bad enough, everyone else will move back to where they come from.
And it's not just the Colorado river basin -- even up in my neck of the woods on a fairly sizeable river way up north our farmers are taking too much water out. & running right down the middle of the country is a massive aquifer stretching from Canada down to Texas. It is being drained as we speak, now contributing to droughts which have messed up whole sectors of food production, including beef.
@@jamespryor5967 your local government knew about it first - just like Southern CA. However if your local & national representatives belong to a party denying science and climate change, stop voting them in.
@@zora_noamflannery2548 , from Bob Dylan and Danny O'Keefe: " The man who stole the water will swim forever more/ but he'll never see the land on that golden shore/ that faint white light will haunt his heart, til he's only a memory, lost in the dark.....Dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to Hell/ till there ain't no more water in the Well Well Well/ when you're down on your knees/ you've got nothing left to sell/ dig a little deeper In the Well Well Well...... The water used to run so clear and so fresh/ now poison creeps in it that withers the flesh/ the man sells us back our water like we're fish on a line/ gonna turn our blood into his wine.....dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to Hell ( chorus)..... You care for your money like you care for your soul/take care you don't dig yourself into a hole/till you've paid the price that you don't know the worth/ of the air and the water, none finer on Earth..... Dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to hell ( chorus)...." [ I am partial to David Lindley's version which you can find on UA-cam].
Considering that Arizona was trying to be Florida and has lots of retirement communities built around golf courses I'm not terribly surprised that they are coming up short...It's a DESERT people!!!
I'm not golfer, I know it's only played on grass, but I don't see why you couldn't play that game in a desert. All it is is hitting a ball with a stick, trying get it into a small hole. Doesn't say anywhere you have to do it on grass. Also, there's artificial grass, if the green has to be green.
I think golf is a silly game, but the majority of water consumption in Arizona is agricultural. It's just easy internet points to point the finger at golf courses.
@@johnchedsey1306 : Indeed reality *is* easier internet points than blatant lies and falsehoods. A lawn in a desert is an incredibly stupid idea. There are other games and activities people can play. There are not other rivers with more water to replace such massive amounts wasted on a mere game. Lives and livelihoods are far more important.
@John Chedsey Fair point. What you ultimately need is to find a fair and sensible way to manage with the water there is. For instance, growing avocados 🥑 uses a lot of water. So, if you grow and export avocados, you're exporting water. Which is fine, if you have enough. Which Arizona doesn't, and is unlikely to get anytime soon. As contraire, I'm afraid.
I'm from Tucson, and one of my grandma's is from Phoenix. She says that when she was growing up it was rarely over 100° except for a few days in the late summer because of all the farmland. Having all of the new developments with all the concrete and absolutely zero green spaces has raised the temperature by an average of almost 20 degrees and has created a skyrocketing need for water but has also disallowed the landscape to recapture water from the monsoon. This is absolutely the right move even if it pisses off corporation buying single-family homes.
In 1993 I moved to phoenix from mexico. Growing up we had fog days every year. During fall and winter you couldn't get water out of your hose because it would be frozen. Every car had a mm or more of ice most winter mornings. We wore snow jackets as kids to school in the morning and would run and slide on the frost on all the grass. Mornings were almost unbearably cold most winters. Now light sweaters are good on the coldest winter days. One winter when I was an early adult a buddy and I started a bonfire and drank, we were about a 2 feet from the fire and freezing. We had hail most years. All of this has changed. All of it. Most people who don't believe in climate change haven't been looking up long enough or haven't lived in the same place long enough.
People still don't get it. We've known since the early 1970s that climate change was happening and coming, and it has happened with a lot more intensity and faster than any of the scientific models of yesteryear could keep up with. The same is being proved true today, computer models can't keep up with the rapidity of the data changes. About 10 years ago, maybe a little longer, I invested some money in an IRA in a company that invests in water processing and water equipment all around the world. At that time, I paid around $25 a share for it. I knew eventually when people started waking up, the stock price would rise. It has, but slowly. It is now around $56 a share. But before I die I figure it will be worth 4x what I paid for it, possibly even more. Invest in water folks. We can survive without fossil fuels. We cannot survive without potable water to drink.
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing... after they have tried everything else." -- Winston Churchill From what I've since in over half a century wandering around the US and the globe - yeah.
Luckily it's not "people," it's "some" people. One could try to say "most" people, sure, but to imply it's all people (no doubt unintentionally, ofc) is silly. Just saying.🙂
Already happening out here in AZ.. look up a community called Rio Verde.. they are a high priced unincorporated community outside of Scottsdale who have been mooching off of Scottsdales water system for YEARS.. they just got cut off by the city and all of a sudden, even though they had 10+ years to fix the problem they knew was coming, they (mostly the Republicans) are all up in arms about it and whining that the city, the city they are *not* a part of is being mean to them... SMDH
I live in the Phoenix east valley. I got rid of half my grass, cut back on watering to once a week, and we cut back on watering plants and trees. But they are building a phucking water park near my house and remodeling a golf course. I don’t know how much they’ll cut back
@@kennixox262 , How many cubic feet of water is lost to evaporation from a pool of that size in a year? Now multiply that by all the square feet of all the pools currently in Las Vegas.... I don't know the answer and I'm not sure how to go about finding it but some hydroengineer somewhere ought to have the figures.
@@kennixox262 It takes over 100 gal of water to water my small yard north of Dallas. Even the greens take more water for a sport that mainly caters to the retired crowd. Just give them an old Nintendo Wii in their club house.
saudi investors have been buying up land and regulators in arizona, circumventing water restrictions. hope this stops these plans as well as future developments
Unlimited growth without regard for natural resources has been the mantra of capitalism. Another tolling of the bell for capitalism’s demise. And that can be a good thing for the world.
If we are to survive our own stupidity, Capitalism must be tossed away for the authoritarian and thus incredibly destructive pro-slavery-lite system of wealth distribution that it is.
Nah, we're not. While I agree Phoenix does have too much sprawl, the state's water consumption is still dominated by agriculture. With reallocation and reclamation projects, a desert population is sustainable.
About time, there was a study done 20 years ago that showed Phoenix was exhausting the water table way too fast. The people that are mad should have stopped planting lawns and golf courses in the desert.
I remember reading about a similar study about 11 years ago. Was completely baffled that rather than regulate and ration water usage, the state of AZ and corporations rapidly expanded the suburbian hellscape. Course, now I know that's just KKKapitalism doing its normal thing.
Elections have consequences and it turns out electing Democrats in Arizona results in adults being in charge. I'm thrilled with this news because it is that acknowledgement that this state needs to be smart about the future. Growth will have to be managed, water projects will have to be innovative. But for those of us who live in the desert and love it, this is great news.
From someone who lives in Arizona: It is a huge change for the governor to declare a moratorium on residential development in a state that's all about unlimited growth no matter what. Up next: Kari Lake declares war on the "woke virus" conservationists, funded by dark money fro Arizona real estate developers.
"When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money." - attributed to Natives from Canada as far as I know. That was my first thought when I heard this story a couple days ago.
Because it hasn`t reached the fearmongers yet, just wait. The radical right wingers will give this the green energy treatment once their big business contributors that fill their pockets complain that this will cause them to lose money and they need to do something about it and make it go away.
Most news seems to be "corporate profit" based these days. Suddenly a classic show by Michael Moore comes back to haunt us all - "5 men own all of the news in the US," or something like that. How many stories got axed for being unprofitable? We might never know, but we maybe should know. And know those stories as well.
The republicans are SCREAMING right now. Complaining about BUSINESSES not wanting to come to Phoenix if no more housing. And at the same time, REFUSING TO PUT ANY KIND OF LEGISLATION ON GROUND WATER USAGE. The Saudi's and farmers GET UNLIMITED GROUND WATER AT NO CHARGE AND NO REGULATION. This has to stop. And most homes DO NOT EVEN HAVE GUTTERS and those that do, NONE COLLECT THE WATER FOR USAGE.
Just as an FYI but essentially "west of the Mississippi" water regulation is written that citizens can NOT harvest rainwater legally. We have several large business here in Utah that have installed water harvesting systems and they had to push the State to make allowances for it. Given that a lot of the regulation was to ensure water quality and safety the 'direction' has been to simply not allow it due to the cost of regulation and oversight. That needs to change on the ground locally to be changed.
@@jaynorris3722 Yeah, so much smarter to make people use cleaned and chlorinated water to water plants and gardens... But at least the municipality can CHARGE for that water, and charge you for sewer use based on that water use, even if that water never enters the sewer system. - Yeah, sewer bills are based on "estimated" use based on a combination of flat charges for the hookup existing, and a computation figured on your water use. So if they can force you to BUY your garden water, they can get more money on the sewer side. Though you avoid this if you have a septic tank.
I'm in CA, in an agricultural area. Our town is on an aquifer. One year during a really bad drought, we were told that our water usage would be rationed and that anyone who went over their allotment would have to pay a higher rate. Like my neighbors, I let my grass die, cut back as much as we could. That same year we got another letter from the water company saying that since everyone cut back so much on water usage, they were going to have to raise rates. Also, at that time, there was a moratorium for building in the city. Now that the moratorium is gone, they've started building single family homes like mad. So we went from not being able to handle the homes already on the grid to adding more. It's like there are multiple agencies working in parallel that never interact.
That's nuts. "The good news is, you have to cut back on water usage but you'll save money on your water bill. The bad news is, your water bill will go up when your water usage is lower." Total Catch-22 there. Ugh.
You've just aptly demonstrated why utilities should be a public good paid for by taxes rather and then fined for misuse rather than run as a business off of usage rates. We should know how much our water usage targets are and how much it will cost to provide them, then just Do it because it is a necessity. Using less water than your neighbor so long as your neighbor stays within allocation shouldn't be viewed as "unfair to you" but in the same way that driving on a public road less than your neighbor isn't viewed as you paying an unfair amount for their road usage unless they decide to drive a tank or something.
This sort of thing is why I warn people against privatizing public utilities. Profit motive means doing the opposite of what youre supposed to be doing.
I live in Southwest Arizona and it was a nice gesture on our new Governor to point this out and halt (for now while she's in office) any new developments, however, the developers are already trying to undermine her and it's not surprising given the last governor sitting on information to which outside areas are now having to deal with, i.e., wells going dry and projections off the mark.
20+ years ago, they were letting orange groves just rot and fall to the ground. It was more profitable to just wait for a developer to make an offer. Meanwhile, as you landed, there was nothing but swimming pools everywhere.
I've been reading the Leatherstocking Tales recently and the central character (Hawkeye) often complains about the wastefulness of the settlers, how they chop down trees and kill game for little or no gain, or even just for fun. These stories were written in the early 1800s. Some people could see even back then where wanton consumption and waste were leading.
It is not simply people could see it. People actually live the lifestyle of ecological balance. Objective reality is some thing the indigenous peoples of this of the globe have had to deal with because it’s how they survive.
It's about time! The water situation is no joke. Maybe they should look at how Earthships collect and reuse water so they use it wisely. They survive in Taos with the water they get from their roofs. And they have gardens growing food inside as part of the system. There are solutions for the problem if people will make a couple changes.
Arizona cities also need to look at Las Vegas as an example for reducing water usage and reclaiming what they do use. There's a lot of potential water saving to be done as well as innovation. Humans are rather clever when circumstances push them to be clever.
A very long time ago, around 1972, I had a college science proff who told us that the next great crises would be water shortages. As I lived in the US on the Northeast coast, I couldn't imagine it. I believe him now. De salinization is as expensive as hell. Maybe our lives will come into closer alignment with reality
" You cannot have infinite growth ( or unlimited consumption ) with limited resources" The most anti Capitalism thing you can say, and also an acceptance of reality.
The irony is that capitalism could come up with solutions. One of the goals in theory is efficiency. But it must come to terms with the fact that infinite growth is impossible.
Been living in PHX for 20 years and the writing has been on the ground for at least that long that we couldn't keep expanding without some kind of mitigation or conservation of the water. And now with the situation in Rio Verde making national news and bringing the spotlight into the region... it's starting to hit home...a little bit. Our AG has found a couple if water leases from the Saudis that were able to be shut down which saved some of the water we use. Context: they (Saudi Arabia) buy land here in AZ, plant alfalfa...which is a a huge water consumer, then send that alfalfa back to Saudi Arabia to feed their livestock---alfalfa is illegal to grow there BECAUSE it requires so much water. So I'm glad that someone somewhere is finally saying something about it.
Illegal to grow alfalfa in Saudi Arabia because it uses too much water . . . Wow! That’s an eye-opener! I’ve known for quite a while the Saudi’s were growing alfalfa here, but I didn’t know *why*
Now is the time to start programs for rain water harvesting. South Africa is already using add on systems to use your roof to gather and store rain. 😉👍💙🇺🇸🕊
@@javiervalenzuela8284 , As far as I am aware Arizona is still in discussions over bringing microchip fabrication plants and data storage server farms to Arizona, both of which require massive amounts of water for processing and cooling.
My dad told me in the 70’s that the day will come when wars are fought over water instead of oil. Looks like he might have been right about something after all.
If there is a way to make it scarce, someone will find a way. Sometimes they create a false scarcity, sometimes they create real scarcity. Then they profit either way.
@@lauriefoster1513 California has had their share of dirty dealings and deaths due to the quest for ownership and control of water. Going back to before it was a state.
Its about time phoenix did something, never in my life have i even thought about moving to a desert, but meanwhile as i am living in southwestern indiana we have not had a good rain in a few weeks, its in the 90s, and farmers are either having to replant or possibly irrigate, harvest season for corn, soy, and tobacco are not looking, currently in the process of doing what i can for myself to preserve water and waiting for conservation notices, and expecting prices to go up this....no one is immune to climate change
Yep. I can actually imagine hearing some of the Conservative pinheads say exactly that, it sounds like the sound bites we already get. Satire can no longer keep up, they broke satire.
Great. The combination of no new developments and an influx of people trying to come here should drive up prices enough I can convince my mother to finally sell her home and we can all move the fuck out of this place before 2025.
In 1988 Cary, NC implemented a 3-4 year moratorium on new building permits in order for the infrastructure to catch up. It’s now 2023 and they have now run out of developable land. Needless to say, housing prices are going up exponentially. The city council got it right!
If I'm a developer what do I care if I build a subdivision sell all the properties, and the area runs out of water in a decade? I got paid 10 years ago, not my problem.
That kind of thing has happen in Florida for over a hundred years. The developer charged the freight of infrastructure but left with that money not installing it. Later the citizens have to pay again to fix that issue. Until people throw the bums out of political office that allow this it is not going to change.
That what developers have been saying about roads, sewer systems, and other infrastructure build out since the 1950s. Those sorts of things are just bankrupting us.
Same attitude of the industrial fisherman off our coasts. Dude, I get paid enough to retire in five years. If I get mine, I don’t care what happens next to the entire ecosystem. And burn the tree huggers in the process for interfering.
"That must have hurt their brain!" I talked about this with my class 10 years ago. We knew this!! So did they! But they shut their eyes... and pretended reality was not knocking. I agree this makes the sense that should confirm that the leaders are paying attention. We have scarce resources and need to pay attention to use them wisely. We already do that, just not previously with water, which is startling. We will now. Kudos!
Peanuts used to be considered cheap filler in every can or jar of mixed nuts. Now there seem to be fewer peanuts in everything except for peanut butter. My wife bought Cracker Jacks a couple times recently and there was almost no peanuts in it.
@@wblynch , No, much of the water used to irrigate almonds and other tree and orchard crops is lost to evaporation ( Some almond farmers have been bulldozing and ripping up their trees because they have no water for them). Also, irrigating deserts tends to bring salt and alkaline residues up to the surface and eventually ruins it as cropland.
I’ve lived in the Phoenix metro area for over six decades. The growth has been unsustainable for decades they should have acknowledged that and have made this decision a long time ago. I hope this includes a moratorium on swimming pool permits as well in all the municipalities in the metro area.
When I was there a few years ago, there was a subdivision with canals and people had little pontoons - in the middle of the freaking desert. I have no idea if they are still allowed to have water. But its bonkers.
If you play any Sims city Games, you know that you can’t build residential districts without water supplies… it’s good to see that local authorities are starting to catch on the concept. 😂
I miss SimCity. It taught us more about local government than school ever bothered. Of course, that might be why it no longer gets made. Too much truth.
@@Skeloric a pretty good city builder that pretty much pick it up where SimCity left it is "Cities: Skylines". It has a lot of DLC some of them released in the last year, that offer a pretty modern take on the concept. Also SimCity got a new version released for mobile (iOS at least) and I think it's actually free to play.
It astonishes me that people continue to have yards with grass and wash cars in the driveway and devote acres and acres to water-sucking golf courses and cemetaries. I'm glad to see that governments are starting to state this out right. It should be pretty simple math, but it seems that we can't see the numbers for the grass. Or something. Meanwhile, people who own homes in Phoenix just got a big ol' gift.
I washed my car the other evening, after the sun went down. I used my dish washing water to wash it & went without a shower that day so I could rinse it using as little water as possible. I used a quarter of the water the car wash places uses.
The greed instilled into our society by Capitalism is a major problem for humanity and all life on the planet. Regardless, it's always good to see you, and I hope you and everyone have a wonderful day/night.
Here's a grand idea. Let's turn golf courses into homeless shelters. Let's start with Trump's courses and then each and every one that attracts the most arrogant and pretentious people in succession.
@@katiebice3905 using my dish water to water my plants. Have cut showers in favor of french baths (at the sink), wash full loads in cold and hang them to dry. It may not be much in the big picture, doing what I can in my picture.
@@geralyn-mm I don't currently live in a desert, but I keep my showers short (3-5 minutes), and live with a "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down." system.
I can already see the statements from the would be developers: "We are very disappointed in the decisions Arizona officials have made as this is going to stunt growth, decrease propriety, and water creation and development"
And the super PAC donations from developers are already flooding in to unseat Katie Hobbs. Developers don't care about the water situation 100 years from now. They only care about the upcoming 4th quarter numbers. I've been living in AZ since Bell Road was "way north Phoenix," and the starboard side of the political divide doesn't seem to grasp that if we keep going like we are, it'll look like the cliff dwellings at Montezuma Castle sooner than later. Abandoned...
It rarely rains in my Arizona city, between Phoenix and Tucson. I collected rain water in several containers from my rain gutters. I used that water for my small vegetable garden. Im fully aware of the water crisis we're facing and I'm preparing for when that time comes. Hopefully it will be short lived.
It can't be short lived. Metros are too big. The reservoirs that took centuries or more to fill can't be replenished fast enough. The cracks in the desert are growing and more are appearing. I would recommend to everyone that can to leave. While we are getting an El Niño soon and some speculate it might be super, it might not be, and regardless this will not be enough 2025 is the next 100yrs drought. I'm still here because I can't convince my mom to sell and move and I won't abandon her.
Our state of AZ more specifically the city of Phoenix is considering utilizing treated waste water for drinking water. This will soon be our new reality.
Phoenix area water tastes AWFUL. When I visit, I buy bottled water for making my tea. Phoenix waste water is also treated and then used in the cooling towers of the Palo Verde power plant. Much of the electricity goes to California, New Mexico, and Texas.
@@rebeccalewis4947 It's heavily chlorinated because it mostly comes from the Colorado River and travels in many miles of canals and grows algae. Phoenix water is currently treated and utilized like you said and for irrigation of golf courses and man made lake communities etc.. not as drinking water as of yet, as I mentioned.
Well howdy yourself Beau, could you talk about how a lot of their water is being taken by Saudi Arabia who are using Arizona water for their alfalfa crops
Just drove home to Tx from Calif. When we went thru Arizona we saw the Saudi alfalfa area. It is right off the I10 frwy. It is so green compared to all the desert around it. It went on for miles. On another point Saudi Arabia owns the biggest oil refinery here in Tx. But Conservatives are worried about Biden being soft on China.
It won't be long before most if not all of the subdivision home developer's persuade the Republican side of government in Arizona to raise the water rates on certain low income communities in order to reduce the state's water consumption, which in turn will allow those aforementioned developer's the ability to build their NIMBY subdivisions.
I live in Arizona, and recently I heard locals mocking climate change and cite the "gas stove hysteria" as a reason to dismiss science. I tell you what though, if AZ is ever invaded by "strawmen" we will be ready!
I was born and raised in the Phoenix Metro Area. I left for 20 years and came back. It’s changed. And that was 20’years ago as well. Just the other day I was saying to my wife, she is from France, I said, we really don’t have a water problem here, we have a population problem. That and misuse of the water system (AKA, Very Thirsty Saudi Alfalfa Farms) and such. Our New Governor, AG, and others are seeing what’s been going on for a long time and know it’s time to act. With no new developments, I wonder what that will do to the value of my house?
It remains to be seen what this will do to the desirability of your house. It may have a negative impact on population density altogether, or it may make for a passive gentrification through scarcity. Good luck!
After growing up in Phoenix in the '70s and early '80s, I'll just say this--this decision is DECADES too late. When I was growing up there, Phoenix was already a huge city with lots of sprawl, but it's gotten positively cancerous now. There are little towns that used to be in the middle of nowhere that are now just indistinguishable suburbs of Phoenix. It's not just water for people. The Sonoran Desert is one of the most biologically diverse--and therefore valuable--desert ecosystems in the world. That's not an exaggeration. It is incredibly special, and incredibly fragile, and already under multiple threats from development and water overuse. Rivers like the Santa Cruz have already been drained dry, which has had a devastating impact on the ecosystem. I left Phoenix as soon as I could and have never lived there since, but I still have many friends there and visit occasionally. It's monstrous now. This move would have been wise 30 years ago. Now, I strongly suspect it's too little, too late.
This is GREAT NEWS! When I was going to school in Phoenix 20 years ago, classmates of mine were telling me it was crazy to go back to Missouri, that I should stay in Phoenix…it was growing like gangbusters. All I said was, “we have water in Missouri. This is a desert. The powers that be are still approving golf course construction, there are fruit trees everywhere, and the HOAs are requiring people to grow grass on their front yards..I can’t live comfortably in a place where water is scarce and the people in charge don’t seem to get it.
When I lived in Boise, Idaho, in the early 1990s, I was involved with projects that involved environmental issues. Even back then, the state department of water resources was evaluating water supplies and usage and considering ways to stretch the water supply, one of which was to limit growth. I don't know if anything was ever implemented, but I was impressed that there were people aware of the water problem and trying to plan for the future.
Mesa Az here. I often wonder if I need to consider relocating due to water shortage, the heat, over population and sky rocking costs of living here. I love this city. I've raised children and built a life here
I don't understand why they're putting all those chip plants there though. It's such a water intensive industry I can't imagine putting it somewhere that is already in such a situation around water.
Depends on if there is a saltwater aquifer in Arizona. Yes, they do exist. And irrigation of cropland an cause salination of both soil & aquifers, especially if over done. South Australia is a classic example of this.
@@garthrogers2269 I think you may have mis-read my comment. if not: Desalination plants aren't used to assure the longevity of aquifers, they draw aquifers down. Rain replenishes aquifers (even salty ones) and the rain patterns are changing.
Cue everyone complaining about lawns or golf courses or sprawl. Any lack of water is due to agriculture, not residential or even industrial use. And if you want lettuce and lemons in the winter, well guess what, there's a price. Most people moved there not to spite nature, but because it was affordable so I find lack of sympathy more about politics than reality. Yeah, there needs to be desalination and huge increases in density, more grey water to drinking water, and groundwater recharging. This state and country can do it, but this is not some frontier, it's an established part of this country and we need solutions besides complaining and nimbyism.
I would be prouder in Arizona if it wasn't for the fact that a new lake waterpark or feature-whatever their calling it, wasn't being built right down the street from my house.
As a Canadian, when the US starts talking about freshwater shortages is scares the shit out of me. My country has 20% of all the freshwater on earth and if the US wants it, I have no doubt they will come north to get it.
I wouldn't be too concerned. Unless something drastic changes before the time comes, we'll likely come with dollar bills in our hands instead of guns. It's bad optics to invade a country we're so friendly with.
@@IBeforeAExceptAfterK Republicans don't care about optics. Trump was wanting to shoot missiles into Mexico. That fu***g guy hates Mexico sooo much. Some Mexican chick must'a made fun of his dinky winky", and now he's on a crusade. Republicans care only about "seeming" to be tough, and to, "do something" against some other country they can demonize.
Oh, we're not coming. We'll use the multinationals that are already there to buy it, then sell it back to you (and everyone else) in bottles. We won't take it by force unless you try to nationalize it.
"You can't have unfettered development without unlimited resources." Someone should tell this to the profiteers who act as though every natural resource on this planet can replenish itself in a year or two. Good for Arizona.
Salt Lake had too many people for the water supply when I moved away 20+ years ago but has continued to expand, even up to buildings on the fault line, and I just shake my head whenever I visit.
I would be more comfortable with this if Arizona hadn’t just signed a deal to build water intensive semiconductors. Either way, this is a change or die situation. My husband and I were going to move to Denver since his job went 100% remote during the pandemic but we have decided to stay in the Great Lakes region due to water issues. The sooner changes get made to reduce water usage the smaller the cuts need to be. I hope this Phoenix change spreads through the whole west/southwest, preferably without the superconductor factory.
WOW!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! There are SOOOOO many going up right now. Unfortunately, I live in Buckeye (a far west suburb) i just heard that Buckeye just signed a contract to guarantee water for the next 100 years. So lits more here...😢
Buckeye water tastes AWFUL. When I visit, I buy 2.5 gallon jugs of water for tea and coffee and drinking water. Our son's family just drinks bottled soda, juice, milk. They don't drink the water.
Maybe Phoenix & the rest of the desert Southwest need to look towards Las Vegas, one of the most water efficient cities globally. For example, all indoor water usage from showers & sinks, is cleaned and returned back into Lake Mead
Dammit, Beau, I have to ask: isn't this part of the rich being able to make laws that support to water independence of their neighborhoods? I mean, I live in rural Kansas, and do you think that we would EVER pass legislation like this? People would scoff, and would say "Why would we need to?" But Western Kansas gets drier every year, and here in Eastern Kansas, we are bearing an increasing burden to produce hay for them (and their massive meat industry) as well as ourselves and Oklahoma. Local solutions like this one confer privilege on the people protected by them, but SO many poor people live in communities that have no political will to even VISIT the idea of planning for 100 years of water. So privileged, wealthy people circle their own wagons, leaving poor people to twist in the wind, just like we are doing to the other nations being currently affected by the climate crisis. Many had little part in the making of it, but they are bearing the brunt of the adverse effects. And why isn't water conservation a state or national level issue? Because leaving pockets of relatively unregulated land means that wealthy people can still profit from it by stealing water, or fracking, or contaminating with PFAs, but they aren't doing harm to their own environment, _just_ that of poor folks. I would like to see this as a win, but I actually see it as a blueprint for yet-another privilege.
Would be expensive to run the pipes, but the bi-product of nuclear plants is steam. That process would separate the salt from seawater. Never mind. I see another Fukushima.
Lots of steam towers of different types of factories. I've often thought if they could collect that distilled water and use it on local farms it'd be a win win deal.
This has been known for over 35 years. Ignorance isn’t always bliss. Should have been looking into the future years ago. I’m Canadian and learned this in high school. At The time, , it was enjoy Arizona but never buy there, and bring your own water.
Breaking News: "You can't have infinite growth with finite supplies." This will surely be a shock to half the country.
There goes Capitalism's business model...
Well said. The only realistic answer is for people to stop having so many children and let the population reduce to more pragmatic levels.
Note: hopefully you don't think republicans are "half" of this country (because that would surely be depressing as hell. lols). In 2020 at their most numerous ever, they were less than 30%. 74 million out of 255 million.
A lot more than 1/2 the country. I know lots of people who say climate change is real and a problem and vote left of center ( or as left as the major options offer) and then say while were flying to France ( or where ever) for vacation this year), or remodeling a room because you must remodel at least one room a year, or buying the latest whatever. ☹
This is exactly what I've been saying to people for a few years - whether it's water, oil or any other necessity in life.
Most of America will decide not to believe it.
The agreement with the Saudis for farming needs to be reviewed
The previous Govenor propped up his budget with the down payment from the Saudi's. He then spent the money. Give that back now ??? Opps, have to raid the AZ Dept of Revenue and then raise taxes on the residents. AGAIN.
Yeah that is some real dodgy crap with those deals.
Well, really anyone farming other than regenerative styles.
Just wait until there's not enough people willing to work on those farms
The Saudis need to be told to get the eff out.
Imagine....
Decisions based on Science
Who would of thought ?
Not conservatives FOR SURE ! Funny they like that label ; they don't conserve anything but injustice !
If we made more decisions based on science as opposed to "owning the libs," we could be close to being an intelligent nation.
@Daniel B Science is always trying to prove or disprove theories. Religion refuses to look inward at its flaws. I'll go with science everyday of the week over religion.
I can.
@@aarongordon2998 interesting that that poster sees unfalsifiable claims as somehow advantageous.
Let's also address all the farmers growing water intensive crops simply because they don't want to lose their allotment.
And the power plants using vast quantities of water for cooling. A majority of that electricity gets exported to Southern California, too.
It's not all the farmers....it's the Saudi's. Our Republican reps sold land to the Saudi's so they can grow hay using OUR WATER, bale it and take it back home for their livestock.
Our crops go to our residents and residents in the US! We need our crops!
@@Pamlandy2 🤔 that's .crazy ..hear. you .
We're gonna learn to live in harmony with our natural world one way or another. It's nice to see hints of people doing it voluntarily.
“Or another,” is when we don’t, so the world shakes our species off her, & begins again.
Our choice.
This isn't voluntary, it's being mandated by the Federal gummint.
One way (voluntarily and smartly) or another (nature's resources simply stop). Which way do you want to do this people? Willingly or in panic/riot mode where the rich defend their riches and the poor die outside the fences.
@@dshepherd107 We won't ALL die. But the next batch will have to have long memories or they'll just do it again.
All those people wanting to live in the past - shame they couldn't go far enough back to when we did live in a more natural world.
30 years ago my husband dissuaded me from buying property in Phoenix because they were going to have water problems.
Wise decision, IMO.
Good foresight!
@@baritonewoman4702 : Don't sell yourself short, that's more than just an opinion.🙂
I was living in the southwest in the 70's, and even though loved the area, decided to move because I knew water problems would be forthcoming. Glad you saw it also.
Well, as an Arizonan, I just want to say how happy I am that you made the decision not to come.
Now if everyone would reclaim their grandparents and parents back to their state. Then maybe if the water shortage gets bad enough, everyone else will move back to where they come from.
The old saying. You will Never miss the water 💧 until the well Runs Dry. People don't worry about things until it's too late
That's supposed to be the point of government.
And it's not just the Colorado river basin -- even up in my neck of the woods on a fairly sizeable river way up north our farmers are taking too much water out.
& running right down the middle of the country is a massive aquifer stretching from Canada down to Texas. It is being drained as we speak, now contributing to droughts which have messed up whole sectors of food production, including beef.
@@jamespryor5967 your local government knew about it first - just like Southern CA. However if your local & national representatives belong to a party denying science and climate change, stop voting them in.
@@jamespryor5967 - Stop making sense. - D. Byrne
@@zora_noamflannery2548 , from Bob Dylan and Danny O'Keefe: " The man who stole the water will swim forever more/ but he'll never see the land on that golden shore/ that faint white light will haunt his heart, til he's only a memory, lost in the dark.....Dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to Hell/ till there ain't no more water in the Well Well Well/ when you're down on your knees/ you've got nothing left to sell/ dig a little deeper In the Well Well Well...... The water used to run so clear and so fresh/ now poison creeps in it that withers the flesh/ the man sells us back our water like we're fish on a line/ gonna turn our blood into his wine.....dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to Hell ( chorus)..... You care for your money like you care for your soul/take care you don't dig yourself into a hole/till you've paid the price that you don't know the worth/ of the air and the water, none finer on Earth..... Dig a hole in the ground, all the way down to hell ( chorus)...." [ I am partial to David Lindley's version which you can find on UA-cam].
Considering that Arizona was trying to be Florida and has lots of retirement communities built around golf courses I'm not terribly surprised that they are coming up short...It's a DESERT people!!!
I'm not golfer, I know it's only played on grass, but I don't see why you couldn't play that game in a desert. All it is is hitting a ball with a stick, trying get it into a small hole. Doesn't say anywhere you have to do it on grass.
Also, there's artificial grass, if the green has to be green.
I think golf is a silly game, but the majority of water consumption in Arizona is agricultural. It's just easy internet points to point the finger at golf courses.
Golf courses are pure entertainment for the few with money. It's a waste of potable water or even agri water.
@@johnchedsey1306 : Indeed reality *is* easier internet points than blatant lies and falsehoods.
A lawn in a desert is an incredibly stupid idea. There are other games and activities people can play. There are not other rivers with more water to replace such massive amounts wasted on a mere game.
Lives and livelihoods are far more important.
@John Chedsey Fair point. What you ultimately need is to find a fair and sensible way to manage with the water there is.
For instance, growing avocados 🥑 uses a lot of water. So, if you grow and export avocados, you're exporting water. Which is fine, if you have enough. Which Arizona doesn't, and is unlikely to get anytime soon. As contraire, I'm afraid.
What about golf courses, agriculture, lawns, dripping faucets, flushing toilets with DRINKING QUALITY WATER? All these need to get looked at.
I'm from Tucson, and one of my grandma's is from Phoenix. She says that when she was growing up it was rarely over 100° except for a few days in the late summer because of all the farmland. Having all of the new developments with all the concrete and absolutely zero green spaces has raised the temperature by an average of almost 20 degrees and has created a skyrocketing need for water but has also disallowed the landscape to recapture water from the monsoon. This is absolutely the right move even if it pisses off corporation buying single-family homes.
Not to mention climate change…😮
In 1993 I moved to phoenix from mexico. Growing up we had fog days every year. During fall and winter you couldn't get water out of your hose because it would be frozen. Every car had a mm or more of ice most winter mornings. We wore snow jackets as kids to school in the morning and would run and slide on the frost on all the grass. Mornings were almost unbearably cold most winters. Now light sweaters are good on the coldest winter days. One winter when I was an early adult a buddy and I started a bonfire and drank, we were about a 2 feet from the fire and freezing. We had hail most years. All of this has changed. All of it. Most people who don't believe in climate change haven't been looking up long enough or haven't lived in the same place long enough.
People still don't get it. We've known since the early 1970s that climate change was happening and coming, and it has happened with a lot more intensity and faster than any of the scientific models of yesteryear could keep up with. The same is being proved true today, computer models can't keep up with the rapidity of the data changes. About 10 years ago, maybe a little longer, I invested some money in an IRA in a company that invests in water processing and water equipment all around the world. At that time, I paid around $25 a share for it. I knew eventually when people started waking up, the stock price would rise. It has, but slowly. It is now around $56 a share. But before I die I figure it will be worth 4x what I paid for it, possibly even more. Invest in water folks. We can survive without fossil fuels. We cannot survive without potable water to drink.
People won't take any of this seriously until they turn on the tap and nothing comes out.
Then they'll just whine and complain and ask why no one did anything. 🙄
@@hattielankford4775
And somehow blame the libs….
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing... after they have tried everything else." -- Winston Churchill
From what I've since in over half a century wandering around the US and the globe - yeah.
Luckily it's not "people," it's "some" people.
One could try to say "most" people, sure, but to imply it's all people (no doubt unintentionally, ofc) is silly.
Just saying.🙂
Already happening out here in AZ.. look up a community called Rio Verde.. they are a high priced unincorporated community outside of Scottsdale who have been mooching off of Scottsdales water system for YEARS.. they just got cut off by the city and all of a sudden, even though they had 10+ years to fix the problem they knew was coming, they (mostly the Republicans) are all up in arms about it and whining that the city, the city they are *not* a part of is being mean to them... SMDH
I live in the Phoenix east valley. I got rid of half my grass, cut back on watering to once a week, and we cut back on watering plants and trees. But they are building a phucking water park near my house and remodeling a golf course. I don’t know how much they’ll cut back
Probably none. But count on some water restrictions for you with legal penalties !
I salute you and thank you. Uf more of us did mindful water/resource use it could be a significant change for the better.
It’ll have to be a ban on swimming pool and nonnative plants for landscaping too.
Don't forget golf courses. Please will someone address the golf courses!
@@byecatsstacey7467 Most desert golf courses only the greens are grass. The rest, not so much.
Las Vegas, pools going forward can be no larger than 600 sf.
@@kennixox262 , How many cubic feet of water is lost to evaporation from a pool of that size in a year? Now multiply that by all the square feet of all the pools currently in Las Vegas.... I don't know the answer and I'm not sure how to go about finding it but some hydroengineer somewhere ought to have the figures.
@@kennixox262 It takes over 100 gal of water to water my small yard north of Dallas. Even the greens take more water for a sport that mainly caters to the retired crowd. Just give them an old Nintendo Wii in their club house.
saudi investors have been buying up land and regulators in arizona, circumventing water restrictions. hope this stops these plans as well as future developments
Unlimited growth without regard for natural resources has been the mantra of capitalism. Another tolling of the bell for capitalism’s demise.
And that can be a good thing for the world.
If we are to survive our own stupidity, Capitalism must be tossed away for the authoritarian and thus incredibly destructive pro-slavery-lite system of wealth distribution that it is.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Chris Hedges has been saying that for years.
Love Chris Hedges
Exactly
Who would have thought building massive, sprawling cities in the desert would be a bad idea? Arizona is fucked
Not necessarily. Water usage can modified.
If it gets too bad, maybe everyone will go back to where they came from.
Nah, we're not. While I agree Phoenix does have too much sprawl, the state's water consumption is still dominated by agriculture. With reallocation and reclamation projects, a desert population is sustainable.
The federal government subsidized it till recently
Thank You Leonaza7
@@johnchedsey1306 another 50 to 100 years and it may as well be tattooine
They DID something?! They actually DID something? Incredible!
About time, there was a study done 20 years ago that showed Phoenix was exhausting the water table way too fast. The people that are mad should have stopped planting lawns and golf courses in the desert.
I remember reading about a similar study about 11 years ago. Was completely baffled that rather than regulate and ration water usage, the state of AZ and corporations rapidly expanded the suburbian hellscape.
Course, now I know that's just KKKapitalism doing its normal thing.
Elections have consequences and it turns out electing Democrats in Arizona results in adults being in charge. I'm thrilled with this news because it is that acknowledgement that this state needs to be smart about the future. Growth will have to be managed, water projects will have to be innovative. But for those of us who live in the desert and love it, this is great news.
Arizona Voters are not going to accept being told their cities can't keep growing.
It's about time. The pop growth in AZ last 3 yrs is baffling.
There. Is. No. Water.
We hold climate change to be self evident.
Well said!😊
But not all ecosystems were created equally.
@@aylbdrmadison1051 Thanks!
@@toughenupfluffy7294 is that an animal farm reference?
Good analogy
From someone who lives in Arizona: It is a huge change for the governor to declare a moratorium on residential development in a state that's all about unlimited growth no matter what. Up next: Kari Lake declares war on the "woke virus" conservationists, funded by dark money fro Arizona real estate developers.
"When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money."
- attributed to Natives from Canada as far as I know.
That was my first thought when I heard this story a couple days ago.
I watched Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind again. Very affirming!
Ok, I live near Phoenix in Arizona. I subscribe to the local paper online. How come I am learning this from you and not from them?!
I read about this yesterday from NY Times.
Because it hasn`t reached the fearmongers yet, just wait. The radical right wingers will give this the green energy treatment once their big business contributors that fill their pockets complain that this will cause them to lose money and they need to do something about it and make it go away.
Who owns that news company?
Most news seems to be "corporate profit" based these days.
Suddenly a classic show by Michael Moore comes back to haunt us all - "5 men own all of the news in the US," or something like that.
How many stories got axed for being unprofitable?
We might never know, but we maybe should know.
And know those stories as well.
@Skeloric look I get that but shouldn't I get some basic information that DIRECTLY impacts my life? I don't know about you guys but I think I should
The republicans are SCREAMING right now. Complaining about BUSINESSES not wanting to come to Phoenix if no more housing. And at the same time, REFUSING TO PUT ANY KIND OF LEGISLATION ON GROUND WATER USAGE. The Saudi's and farmers GET UNLIMITED GROUND WATER AT NO CHARGE AND NO REGULATION. This has to stop. And most homes DO NOT EVEN HAVE GUTTERS and those that do, NONE COLLECT THE WATER FOR USAGE.
Also R's are making it illegal to live off the grid in almost every state! Vote blue!!
Just as an FYI but essentially "west of the Mississippi" water regulation is written that citizens can NOT harvest rainwater legally. We have several large business here in Utah that have installed water harvesting systems and they had to push the State to make allowances for it. Given that a lot of the regulation was to ensure water quality and safety the 'direction' has been to simply not allow it due to the cost of regulation and oversight. That needs to change on the ground locally to be changed.
Colorado fines people for putting up water barrels. Yeah, stupid as a sack of hair since the water would be used to water gardens.
Rain water recharges the aquifer.
Paving, concrete, development does not.
@@jaynorris3722 Yeah, so much smarter to make people use cleaned and chlorinated water to water plants and gardens...
But at least the municipality can CHARGE for that water, and charge you for sewer use based on that water use, even if that water never enters the sewer system.
-
Yeah, sewer bills are based on "estimated" use based on a combination of flat charges for the hookup existing, and a computation figured on your water use.
So if they can force you to BUY your garden water, they can get more money on the sewer side.
Though you avoid this if you have a septic tank.
I'm in CA, in an agricultural area. Our town is on an aquifer. One year during a really bad drought, we were told that our water usage would be rationed and that anyone who went over their allotment would have to pay a higher rate. Like my neighbors, I let my grass die, cut back as much as we could. That same year we got another letter from the water company saying that since everyone cut back so much on water usage, they were going to have to raise rates. Also, at that time, there was a moratorium for building in the city. Now that the moratorium is gone, they've started building single family homes like mad. So we went from not being able to handle the homes already on the grid to adding more. It's like there are multiple agencies working in parallel that never interact.
_"since everyone cut back so much on water usage, they were going to have to raise rates"_
The horrors of Capitalism.
That's nuts. "The good news is, you have to cut back on water usage but you'll save money on your water bill. The bad news is, your water bill will go up when your water usage is lower." Total Catch-22 there. Ugh.
Single family homes and suburbs in general are going to have to be a thing of the past.
You've just aptly demonstrated why utilities should be a public good paid for by taxes rather and then fined for misuse rather than run as a business off of usage rates. We should know how much our water usage targets are and how much it will cost to provide them, then just Do it because it is a necessity. Using less water than your neighbor so long as your neighbor stays within allocation shouldn't be viewed as "unfair to you" but in the same way that driving on a public road less than your neighbor isn't viewed as you paying an unfair amount for their road usage unless they decide to drive a tank or something.
This sort of thing is why I warn people against privatizing public utilities. Profit motive means doing the opposite of what youre supposed to be doing.
I live in Southwest Arizona and it was a nice gesture on our new Governor to point this out and halt (for now while she's in office) any new developments, however, the developers are already trying to undermine her and it's not surprising given the last governor sitting on information to which outside areas are now having to deal with, i.e., wells going dry and projections off the mark.
Good news. Too often state and local governments just kick problems down the road.
Not really good news. Just means people gonna move out of AZ to other states. Please go to TX.
I'm from Arizona. Restricted development is LONG overdue.
20+ years ago, they were letting orange groves just rot and fall to the ground. It was more profitable to just wait for a developer to make an offer.
Meanwhile, as you landed, there was nothing but swimming pools everywhere.
I've been reading the Leatherstocking Tales recently and the central character (Hawkeye) often complains about the wastefulness of the settlers, how they chop down trees and kill game for little or no gain, or even just for fun. These stories were written in the early 1800s. Some people could see even back then where wanton consumption and waste were leading.
It is not simply people could see it. People actually live the lifestyle of ecological balance. Objective reality is some thing the indigenous peoples of this of the globe have had to deal with because it’s how they survive.
You can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet. Thank you for saying it in so many words.
It's about time! The water situation is no joke. Maybe they should look at how Earthships collect and reuse water so they use it wisely. They survive in Taos with the water they get from their roofs. And they have gardens growing food inside as part of the system. There are solutions for the problem if people will make a couple changes.
Arizona cities also need to look at Las Vegas as an example for reducing water usage and reclaiming what they do use. There's a lot of potential water saving to be done as well as innovation. Humans are rather clever when circumstances push them to be clever.
And many of the changes cost nothing except being a little mindful. And your bill will go down as part of traveling the higher path.
A very long time ago, around 1972, I had a college science proff who told us that the next great crises would be water shortages. As I lived in the US on the Northeast coast, I couldn't imagine it. I believe him now. De salinization is as expensive as hell. Maybe our lives will come into closer alignment with reality
Who says desalinization is expensive? Once you've built it, the sun will do it for free.
As a kid in 70/80s I thought the concept of paying for bottled water was mad. Now I buy it because the tap tastes like pool water.🙄unreal
100 years doesn’t last as long as it used to.
100 is the new 70.....
True, but you can pack so much more into it.
I'm sure the greedy property developers won't be too happy about this.
Good. They deserve to always be unhappy until they learn to be decent human beings.
Let them eat dirt - very dry dirt.
The 100yr guaranteed water supply has been a joke since I moved here 30yrs ago. until now it was greeted w/ a wink & a nod.
It's about time people started to acknowledge objective reality.
Wouldn't that be refreshing?
" You cannot have infinite growth ( or unlimited consumption ) with limited resources" The most anti Capitalism thing you can say, and also an acceptance of reality.
The irony is that capitalism could come up with solutions. One of the goals in theory is efficiency. But it must come to terms with the fact that infinite growth is impossible.
Wish San Diego would adopt a similar plan.
Been living in PHX for 20 years and the writing has been on the ground for at least that long that we couldn't keep expanding without some kind of mitigation or conservation of the water. And now with the situation in Rio Verde making national news and bringing the spotlight into the region... it's starting to hit home...a little bit.
Our AG has found a couple if water leases from the Saudis that were able to be shut down which saved some of the water we use. Context: they (Saudi Arabia) buy land here in AZ, plant alfalfa...which is a a huge water consumer, then send that alfalfa back to Saudi Arabia to feed their livestock---alfalfa is illegal to grow there BECAUSE it requires so much water.
So I'm glad that someone somewhere is finally saying something about it.
Illegal to grow alfalfa in Saudi Arabia because it uses too much water . . .
Wow! That’s an eye-opener!
I’ve known for quite a while the Saudi’s were growing alfalfa here, but I didn’t know *why*
Now is the time to start programs for rain water harvesting. South Africa is already using add on systems to use your roof to gather and store rain. 😉👍💙🇺🇸🕊
We've been asking for this as locals for decades now. Finally looks like we'll stop being the fastest growing county in the country after 2 decades.
Remember around 2000 when they planned on bringing six flags here? 😂 thank god that never happened tbh.
@@javiervalenzuela8284 , As far as I am aware Arizona is still in discussions over bringing microchip fabrication plants and data storage server farms to Arizona, both of which require massive amounts of water for processing and cooling.
My dad told me in the 70’s that the day will come when wars are fought over water instead of oil. Looks like he might have been right about something after all.
If there is a way to make it scarce, someone will find a way.
Sometimes they create a false scarcity, sometimes they create real scarcity.
Then they profit either way.
Happened already… back in the 1800s. Water wars.
Water and food are symbiotically linked. When the water goes, the food goes. The food goes, we go. End of doom loop.
@@lauriefoster1513 California has had their share of dirty dealings and deaths due to the quest for ownership and control of water. Going back to before it was a state.
Waiting for the Supreme Court ruling that local water authorities lack a long standing constitutional basis to regulate water consumption.
Its about time phoenix did something, never in my life have i even thought about moving to a desert, but meanwhile as i am living in southwestern indiana we have not had a good rain in a few weeks, its in the 90s, and farmers are either having to replant or possibly irrigate, harvest season for corn, soy, and tobacco are not looking, currently in the process of doing what i can for myself to preserve water and waiting for conservation notices, and expecting prices to go up this....no one is immune to climate change
Republicans: This means Climate change is winning! EVERYONE MOVE TO ARIZONA! We'll show them!
Yep.
I can actually imagine hearing some of the Conservative pinheads say exactly that, it sounds like the sound bites we already get.
Satire can no longer keep up, they broke satire.
Woke climate can f off 😂
Great. The combination of no new developments and an influx of people trying to come here should drive up prices enough I can convince my mother to finally sell her home and we can all move the fuck out of this place before 2025.
@@javiervalenzuela8284 That's the spirit! :)
@@javiervalenzuela8284 bye bye
In 1988 Cary, NC implemented a 3-4 year moratorium on new building permits in order for the infrastructure to catch up. It’s now 2023 and they have now run out of developable land. Needless to say, housing prices are going up exponentially. The city council got it right!
Until housing is unaffordable. Then ppl leave to buy their piece if the American dream.
Glad to hear this. Hopefully, down here in Tucson they should do the same thing.
100% agree, my Tucson neighbor!
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
If I'm a developer what do I care if I build a subdivision sell all the properties, and the area runs out of water in a decade? I got paid 10 years ago, not my problem.
That kind of thing has happen in Florida for over a hundred years. The developer charged the freight of infrastructure but left with that money not installing it. Later the citizens have to pay again to fix that issue. Until people throw the bums out of political office that allow this it is not going to change.
That what developers have been saying about roads, sewer systems, and other infrastructure build out since the 1950s. Those sorts of things are just bankrupting us.
Same attitude of the industrial fisherman off our coasts. Dude, I get paid enough to retire in five years. If I get mine, I don’t care what happens next to the entire ecosystem. And burn the tree huggers in the process for interfering.
"That must have hurt their brain!" I talked about this with my class 10 years ago.
We knew this!! So did they! But they shut their eyes... and pretended reality was not knocking. I agree this makes the sense that should confirm that the leaders are paying attention. We have scarce resources and need to pay attention to use them wisely.
We already do that, just not previously with water, which is startling. We will now. Kudos!
Boycott almonds. Eat peanuts. Save water.
When almond orchards get irrigated most of the water sinks into the aquifer and can be used again.
Peanuts used to be considered cheap filler in every can or jar of mixed nuts. Now there seem to be fewer peanuts in everything except for peanut butter. My wife bought Cracker Jacks a couple times recently and there was almost no peanuts in it.
@@wblynch , No, much of the water used to irrigate almonds and other tree and orchard crops is lost to evaporation ( Some almond farmers have been bulldozing and ripping up their trees because they have no water for them). Also, irrigating deserts tends to bring salt and alkaline residues up to the surface and eventually ruins it as cropland.
Encourage the use of hydrothermal carbonisation technologies for treating effluent
I’ve lived in the Phoenix metro area for over six decades. The growth has been unsustainable for decades they should have acknowledged that and have made this decision a long time ago. I hope this includes a moratorium on swimming pool permits as well in all the municipalities in the metro area.
Have they put out golf course regulations?
For decades. Golf courses are a small fraction of the problem.
When I was there a few years ago, there was a subdivision with canals and people had little pontoons - in the middle of the freaking desert. I have no idea if they are still allowed to have water. But its bonkers.
If you play any Sims city Games, you know that you can’t build residential districts without water supplies… it’s good to see that local authorities are starting to catch on the concept. 😂
I miss SimCity.
It taught us more about local government than school ever bothered.
Of course, that might be why it no longer gets made.
Too much truth.
@@Skeloric a pretty good city builder that pretty much pick it up where SimCity left it is "Cities: Skylines". It has a lot of DLC some of them released in the last year, that offer a pretty modern take on the concept. Also SimCity got a new version released for mobile (iOS at least) and I think it's actually free to play.
@@TinkerRyphna yup. Cities: Skylines.
Love that game.
Beau's shocked too. I read this earlier in the morning and was stunned- unusually so, to see Arizona appearing to, finally, get the message.
It astonishes me that people continue to have yards with grass and wash cars in the driveway and devote acres and acres to water-sucking golf courses and cemetaries. I'm glad to see that governments are starting to state this out right. It should be pretty simple math, but it seems that we can't see the numbers for the grass. Or something. Meanwhile, people who own homes in Phoenix just got a big ol' gift.
I washed my car the other evening, after the sun went down. I used my dish washing water to wash it & went without a shower that day so I could rinse it using as little water as possible. I used a quarter of the water the car wash places uses.
The greed instilled into our society by Capitalism is a major problem for humanity and all life on the planet.
Regardless, it's always good to see you, and I hope you and everyone have a wonderful day/night.
Here's a grand idea. Let's turn golf courses into homeless shelters. Let's start with Trump's courses and then each and every one that attracts the most arrogant and pretentious people in succession.
@@katiebice3905 using my dish water to water my plants. Have cut showers in favor of french baths (at the sink), wash full loads in cold and hang them to dry. It may not be much in the big picture, doing what I can in my picture.
@@geralyn-mm I don't currently live in a desert, but I keep my showers short (3-5 minutes), and live with a "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown flush it down." system.
Seems like a good opportunity to use the land for solar and wind and make power cheeped and sustainable for Arizona.
Hi internet people 💜💙💚💛🧡❤️
I can already see the statements from the would be developers: "We are very disappointed in the decisions Arizona officials have made as this is going to stunt growth, decrease propriety, and water creation and development"
And the super PAC donations from developers are already flooding in to unseat Katie Hobbs. Developers don't care about the water situation 100 years from now. They only care about the upcoming 4th quarter numbers. I've been living in AZ since Bell Road was "way north Phoenix," and the starboard side of the political divide doesn't seem to grasp that if we keep going like we are, it'll look like the cliff dwellings at Montezuma Castle sooner than later. Abandoned...
It rarely rains in my Arizona city, between Phoenix and Tucson. I collected rain water in several containers from my rain gutters. I used that water for my small vegetable garden. Im fully aware of the water crisis we're facing and I'm preparing for when that time comes. Hopefully it will be short lived.
It can't be short lived. Metros are too big. The reservoirs that took centuries or more to fill can't be replenished fast enough. The cracks in the desert are growing and more are appearing. I would recommend to everyone that can to leave. While we are getting an El Niño soon and some speculate it might be super, it might not be, and regardless this will not be enough 2025 is the next 100yrs drought. I'm still here because I can't convince my mom to sell and move and I won't abandon her.
Our state of AZ more specifically the city of Phoenix is considering utilizing treated waste water for drinking water. This will soon be our new reality.
San Francisco already does that. [shrug]
Austin already does it.
I think pretty much all water on earth has passed through one bladder or another in the last billion years or so.
Phoenix area water tastes AWFUL. When I visit, I buy bottled water for making my tea.
Phoenix waste water is also treated and then used in the cooling towers of the Palo Verde power plant. Much of the electricity goes to California, New Mexico, and Texas.
@@rebeccalewis4947 It's heavily chlorinated because it mostly comes from the Colorado River and travels in many miles of canals and grows algae. Phoenix water is currently treated and utilized like you said and for irrigation of golf courses and man made lake communities etc.. not as drinking water as of yet, as I mentioned.
Well howdy yourself Beau, could you talk about how a lot of their water is being taken by Saudi Arabia who are using Arizona water for their alfalfa crops
And California who is putting Arizona groundwater into toulets in LA.
Just drove home to Tx from Calif. When we went thru Arizona we saw the Saudi alfalfa area. It is right off the I10 frwy. It is so green compared to all the desert around it. It went on for miles. On another point Saudi Arabia owns the biggest oil refinery here in Tx. But Conservatives are worried about Biden being soft on China.
Theocracy doesn't bother some people like I think it should.
It won't be long before most if not all of the subdivision home developer's persuade the Republican side of government in Arizona to raise the water rates on certain low income communities in order to reduce the state's water consumption, which in turn will allow those aforementioned developer's the ability to build their NIMBY subdivisions.
I live in Arizona, and recently I heard locals mocking climate change and cite the "gas stove hysteria" as a reason to dismiss science.
I tell you what though, if AZ is ever invaded by "strawmen" we will be ready!
I'd like to say "FINALLY" but there is so much that needs attention!
I guess for Arizona it's a start but how late are we???
I was born and raised in the Phoenix Metro Area. I left for 20 years and came back. It’s changed. And that was 20’years ago as well. Just the other day I was saying to my wife, she is from France, I said, we really don’t have a water problem here, we have a population problem. That and misuse of the water system (AKA, Very Thirsty Saudi Alfalfa Farms) and such. Our New Governor, AG, and others are seeing what’s been going on for a long time and know it’s time to act.
With no new developments, I wonder what that will do to the value of my house?
It remains to be seen what this will do to the desirability of your house. It may have a negative impact on population density altogether, or it may make for a passive gentrification through scarcity. Good luck!
After growing up in Phoenix in the '70s and early '80s, I'll just say this--this decision is DECADES too late.
When I was growing up there, Phoenix was already a huge city with lots of sprawl, but it's gotten positively cancerous now. There are little towns that used to be in the middle of nowhere that are now just indistinguishable suburbs of Phoenix.
It's not just water for people. The Sonoran Desert is one of the most biologically diverse--and therefore valuable--desert ecosystems in the world. That's not an exaggeration. It is incredibly special, and incredibly fragile, and already under multiple threats from development and water overuse. Rivers like the Santa Cruz have already been drained dry, which has had a devastating impact on the ecosystem.
I left Phoenix as soon as I could and have never lived there since, but I still have many friends there and visit occasionally. It's monstrous now.
This move would have been wise 30 years ago. Now, I strongly suspect it's too little, too late.
This is GREAT NEWS!
When I was going to school in Phoenix 20 years ago, classmates of mine were telling me it was crazy to go back to Missouri, that I should stay in Phoenix…it was growing like gangbusters.
All I said was, “we have water in Missouri. This is a desert. The powers that be are still approving golf course construction, there are fruit trees everywhere, and the HOAs are requiring people to grow grass on their front yards..I can’t live comfortably in a place where water is scarce and the people in charge don’t seem to get it.
There will be, and always should be, limits to growth.
When I lived in Boise, Idaho, in the early 1990s, I was involved with projects that involved environmental issues. Even back then, the state department of water resources was evaluating water supplies and usage and considering ways to stretch the water supply, one of which was to limit growth. I don't know if anything was ever implemented, but I was impressed that there were people aware of the water problem and trying to plan for the future.
Somebody got a new camera!!
It’s so clear you look different
Then on the flip side they're going to be building a MLB stadium in Vegas that they won't be able to sustain🙄
A stadium not 100% funded by it's billionaire owner (eg., corporate welfare)
@@tomvu1470 that too.
Mesa Az here. I often wonder if I need to consider relocating due to water shortage, the heat, over population and sky rocking costs of living here. I love this city. I've raised children and built a life here
Get out first before the stampede.
We've all had unsustainable loves, it's nothing to be ashamed of. But when the relationship is hurting everyone involved, it's time to end it.
One of these days, people are gonna realize "You can't have infinite growth from finite resources" applies to more than just water...
I don't understand why they're putting all those chip plants there though. It's such a water intensive industry I can't imagine putting it somewhere that is already in such a situation around water.
Where is Arizona supposed build a desalination plant if it's land locked?
San Diego? Or Mexico, if they want a shorter pipeline.
Depends on if there is a saltwater aquifer in Arizona. Yes, they do exist. And irrigation of cropland an cause salination of both soil & aquifers, especially if over done. South Australia is a classic example of this.
@@garthrogers2269 yes but showing that a salty aquifer will be good for 100 years may be a tough job.
@@somerandomnification which is why a desalination plant would be needed.
@@garthrogers2269 I think you may have mis-read my comment. if not: Desalination plants aren't used to assure the longevity of aquifers, they draw aquifers down. Rain replenishes aquifers (even salty ones) and the rain patterns are changing.
Hi
Cue everyone complaining about lawns or golf courses or sprawl. Any lack of water is due to agriculture, not residential or even industrial use. And if you want lettuce and lemons in the winter, well guess what, there's a price. Most people moved there not to spite nature, but because it was affordable so I find lack of sympathy more about politics than reality. Yeah, there needs to be desalination and huge increases in density, more grey water to drinking water, and groundwater recharging. This state and country can do it, but this is not some frontier, it's an established part of this country and we need solutions besides complaining and nimbyism.
I would be prouder in Arizona if it wasn't for the fact that a new lake waterpark or feature-whatever their calling it, wasn't being built right down the street from my house.
Interesting
As a Canadian, when the US starts talking about freshwater shortages is scares the shit out of me. My country has 20% of all the freshwater on earth and if the US wants it, I have no doubt they will come north to get it.
I wouldn't be too concerned. Unless something drastic changes before the time comes, we'll likely come with dollar bills in our hands instead of guns. It's bad optics to invade a country we're so friendly with.
@@IBeforeAExceptAfterK Republicans don't care about optics. Trump was wanting to shoot missiles into Mexico. That fu***g guy hates Mexico sooo much. Some Mexican chick must'a made fun of his dinky winky", and now he's on a crusade.
Republicans care only about "seeming" to be tough, and to, "do something" against some other country they can demonize.
You should be more concerned about your corrupt maple syrup syndicates. We see you!
Oh, we're not coming. We'll use the multinationals that are already there to buy it, then sell it back to you (and everyone else) in bottles. We won't take it by force unless you try to nationalize it.
I hope news like this continues
"You can't have unfettered development without unlimited resources." Someone should tell this to the profiteers who act as though every natural resource on this planet can replenish itself in a year or two. Good for Arizona.
Howdy folks! I hope everyone has had a great weekend!! 👋 ✌️
You too!
Are you sure "No Water" in Arizona isn't actually code for "We're sick of Kari LAKE"?
Yay Beau!
Yeah, Austin, Texas should be doing the same.
Abbott? Yeah, I`m sure that he is all over that.
Salt Lake had too many people for the water supply when I moved away 20+ years ago but has continued to expand, even up to buildings on the fault line, and I just shake my head whenever I visit.
Howdy beau , its me again!
I would be more comfortable with this if Arizona hadn’t just signed a deal to build water intensive semiconductors. Either way, this is a change or die situation. My husband and I were going to move to Denver since his job went 100% remote during the pandemic but we have decided to stay in the Great Lakes region due to water issues. The sooner changes get made to reduce water usage the smaller the cuts need to be. I hope this Phoenix change spreads through the whole west/southwest, preferably without the superconductor factory.
Yup. Buffalo will likely see a resurgence do to it's great lake access. Detroit too.
WOW!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! There are SOOOOO many going up right now. Unfortunately, I live in Buckeye (a far west suburb) i just heard that Buckeye just signed a contract to guarantee water for the next 100 years. So lits more here...😢
Buckeye water tastes AWFUL. When I visit, I buy 2.5 gallon jugs of water for tea and coffee and drinking water. Our son's family just drinks bottled soda, juice, milk. They don't drink the water.
Vice President Harris mentioned this problem while on campaign everyone ignored her.
Maybe Phoenix & the rest of the desert Southwest need to look towards Las Vegas, one of the most water efficient cities globally. For example, all indoor water usage from showers & sinks, is cleaned and returned back into Lake Mead
Phoenix already has a program like that called Tres Rios.
Phoenix waste water is used in the power plant at Palo Verde. Power goes to Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas.
Dammit, Beau, I have to ask: isn't this part of the rich being able to make laws that support to water independence of their neighborhoods? I mean, I live in rural Kansas, and do you think that we would EVER pass legislation like this? People would scoff, and would say "Why would we need to?" But Western Kansas gets drier every year, and here in Eastern Kansas, we are bearing an increasing burden to produce hay for them (and their massive meat industry) as well as ourselves and Oklahoma. Local solutions like this one confer privilege on the people protected by them, but SO many poor people live in communities that have no political will to even VISIT the idea of planning for 100 years of water. So privileged, wealthy people circle their own wagons, leaving poor people to twist in the wind, just like we are doing to the other nations being currently affected by the climate crisis. Many had little part in the making of it, but they are bearing the brunt of the adverse effects. And why isn't water conservation a state or national level issue? Because leaving pockets of relatively unregulated land means that wealthy people can still profit from it by stealing water, or fracking, or contaminating with PFAs, but they aren't doing harm to their own environment, _just_ that of poor folks. I would like to see this as a win, but I actually see it as a blueprint for yet-another privilege.
Would be expensive to run the pipes, but the bi-product of nuclear plants is steam. That process would separate the salt from seawater. Never mind. I see another Fukushima.
Lots of steam towers of different types of factories. I've often thought if they could collect that distilled water and use it on local farms it'd be a win win deal.
This has been known for over 35 years. Ignorance isn’t always bliss. Should have been looking into the future years ago. I’m Canadian and learned this in high school. At The time, , it was enjoy Arizona but never buy there, and bring your own water.