Water and the American way of life

      The story of the Aral sea in the former Soviet province of Uzbekistan should be a wakeup call for everyone.  By diverting most of the rivers which fed the fresh water lake which was 15% larger than lake Michigan, Soviet planners unwittingly caused the demise of the lake and with it the ecosystem it anchored.   Now a vast desert with a few increasingly saline lakes left behind, it is a tourist draw for those interested in seeing an ecological disaster.

     Halfway across the world, in Arizona, a similar disaster may be playing out as foreign and domestic companies are pumping the underground aquifer dry while the state's other major source of water, the Colorado River, also dries up.  

     You may ask what these far flung disaster stories have to do with those of us  in the water rich Northeastern US?   Thirsty people will do desperate things to secure water supplies.   There is already talk of transcontinental pipelines stretching from the Great lakes to the arid west.   As water supplies dwindle, the talk will become more serious.  People will not give up the American way of life without a life and death struggle.