Temperatures soar across the landscape. What was once a temperate place to live now feels
like a desert. Nothing will grow, there isn’t enough water to drink, and entire ecosystems
collapse. In some parts of the world, this scenario is playing out right before our eyes.
And what might surprise you is that you may live in an area that will suffer a
water shortage in the near future. What will happen? Where will you go? Unfortunately,
the answers to these questions are going to be hard to hear.
Currently, in the United States, there is one major water source
that is quickly drying up. This will impact millions of people
and could lead to mass migrations away from certain parts of the U.S. Entire cities may
become ghost towns. Those who don’t leave risk dying of starvation or dehydration.
But this isn’t a problem unique to the United States. There are locations around the world
already suffering from water scarcity. The sad part is that a lot of the suffering
that is happening and the misery to come could be prevented. There is plenty of water on this planet
for everyone. However, the unequal distribution of this vital resource is causing a lack of fresh
water for many. Instead of allowing rivers to flow naturally and lakes to replenish themselves, we
are pouring their waters into cities and allowing companies to pollute them for manufacturing,
irrigation of non-essential crops, and the maintenance of water-intensive vegetation.
The other problem leading to water shortages around the
globe is human-caused climate change. This is exacerbating the water scarcity
issues by causing prolonged droughts and higher temperatures. The perfect storm of
negative impacts on our water systems is leading to a grim future where billions
of people may live in places where access to fresh, clean water is not guaranteed.
So, where don’t you want to live in the future in case of water shortage? Let’s find out.
One of the main regions in the United States that is in real danger of losing its main water supply
is the Southwest. The Colorado river has run through this landscape for over 6 million years,
providing the area with an invaluable and constant source of water. However,
that is now changing thanks to the bad decisions and mismanagement of the Colorado
River by the governments in Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and California.
The 1922 Colorado River Compact allowed these states to divert a certain percentage
of water from the Colorado River in order to provide water to their growing populations.
Even before the compact was completed, hydrologists and other scientists warned
about the dangers of siphoning water from the river. But these warnings were ignored.
Even worse, the amount of water that the southernmost states
needed to support their cities was greatly underestimated, and as populations exploded,
certain states massively overshot their allotment of water. This obviously began
to drain the river just like scientists warned, yet economic growth outweighed
the long-term impact on the environment, and even today, Arizona, Nevada, and California
are still taking more water out of the Colorado River than the compact allowed for. Even worse,
no one is holding them accountable as this precious resource is literally being bled dry.
The main problem with the Colorado River Compact is that no one could have predicted
how quickly the western United States' economy, agricultural sector, and population would grow.
This meant that there was not enough data to properly calculate the amount of water
necessary to sustain growth while also preserving the river itself. This miscalculation could lead
to the Southwestern United States being a hazardous place to live in the future.
The two biggest reservoirs fed by the Colorado River are now in danger
of running dry. Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell have lost huge amounts of water.
Images taken of Lake Mead by NASA satellites clearly show just how serious the problem is.
Major cities like Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; and St. George,
Utah all rely heavily on the waters of the Colorado. However, large and small towns
in rural areas also pull huge amounts of water from the river for various reasons,
such as for livestock farms, golf course maintenance, and industrial production. Right now,
living in populated areas in this part of the United States is like rolling the dice. Maybe
the government will fix the overuse of water from the Colorado, and maybe it won’t. Either way,
it may be too late, and severe water shortages could be just around the corner.
The other problem is that water from the Colorado is also being siphoned to irrigate
around 3.5 million acres of cropland. So, when the river dries up, not only will there be a
water shortage but a food shortage as well. This is just another reason why the drier
regions of the Southwestern United States are not someplace you will want to live in the future.
The crazy thing is that Phoenix, Arizona is one of the fastest growing cities in all the
United States. Water consumption will increase as more and more people pour into this city. There
is no way that the increasing population can be sustainable at current water consumption levels.
Something will have to give, either stricter regulations will need to be put on the use of
water from the Colorado River, or cities like Phoenix will collapse from a lack of water.
If things don’t change, the Southwestern U.S. is probably a place you don’t want to live
in the future if there are water shortages. Temperatures can rise well over 100 degrees,
and many towns and cities literally sit in the middle of deserts. Even still,
there are actually places further downstream that could become even worse off. The Colorado
River starts in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and flows all the way to
the Gulf of California. It’s here that the Colorado River Delta is located in Mexico.
The Colorado River Delta used to be a healthy ecological region full of diverse plant and
animal life. It was a wonderful place to live as the waters of the Colorado constantly flowed
through the region, and the mix of fresh and saltwater just off the coast made the aquatic
life there abundant. However, living in the Colorado River Basin today is a different story.
Due to the overuse of the Colorado River by the Southwestern United States,
only a fraction of the water that once poured into the Gulf of California
reaches the river’s delta region. This means that anyone living in this area is
also experiencing water shortages. Not only that but the water that does end up making
it all the way to Mexico is often polluted by runoff from U.S. farms and factories.
The high levels of nitrates from fertilizers that end up in the Colorado River make their
way into the Gulf of California, which causes all sorts of problems. Firstly, they make the
water dangerous to drink for the people who rely on it in the Colorado Delta region.
Secondly, the nitrates cause algae blooms to grow out of control, which suffocates the
aquatic ecosystems and kills many of the plants and animals that would normally thrive there.
Living in the desert without access to water from the Colorado is definitely going to be a
problem in the future. However, if we continue to allow United States farms and industries to
put pollutants into the river that eventually flows through Mexico and out into the ocean,
living anywhere along the Colorado River Delta will also not be an option. It’s terrible that
people who have relied on the Colorado River for hundreds or even thousands of years in Mexico now
only receive polluted water from the United States as their main source of fresh water.
Environmentalists have been trying to manage this problem for several decades,
and certain regions of the Colorado River Delta are being protected. But until U.S.
farms, businesses, and governments are held accountable for overusing and polluting the
Colorado River, anyone who relies on its waters is in danger of being forced to move elsewhere.
This brings up several other problems with water shortages in the future. Not everyone can just
pick up and move their entire life to someplace new. People who are already marginalized will be
forced to live in areas where access to water is a constant concern. As water becomes more scarce, it
will become more expensive to obtain, which only exacerbates the problem for low-income families.
In these types of situations, things could become dire. If given the choice between allowing their
families to die from dehydration or fighting for water resources, it’s likely people will
chose the latter. Fighting will break out in areas where water is not abundant enough for
everyone to have. Small wars may be waged between communities across the Southwestern United States
to ensure that their people have access to the water that is trickling down the Colorado River.
The other problem with water shortages is that if a main water source like the Colorado River
does dry up and people are forced to migrate to other parts of the country,
the crisis won’t be solved. As more people move to water abundant regions, those water
supplies will be put under enormous strain and eventually will become depleted as well.
When we look at a map of the United States, you can imagine the populations that rely on
the Colorado migrating east towards the Mississippi. As the Mississippi
River begins to dry up, people will move even further east. Eventually,
there will be nowhere else to go, and the United States will descend into chaos as
the entire population is fighting with one another for access to fresh water.
At this point, it is probably safe to say that if business continues as usual, living in any part of
the Southwest that relies on the Colorado is not a place you will want to be in the future. All you
have to do is take a boat down the river itself to see how drastically the water line has changed.
Most experts agree that reservoirs fed by the Colorado will never be full again. The
mismanagement and unequal distribution of water from the river is definitely to
blame for the decline in water supplies, but other factors are also at play. Unfortunately,
these are human-caused problems that could have been prevented. Although
it’s likely too late to reverse the damage in any meaningful way.
Scientists estimate that due to climate change, the flow of the Colorado River
will decrease somewhere between 5 and 20 percent over the next few decades. This
is on top of the water that is constantly being siphoned out of the river each day.
Human-caused climate change is driving the planet’s average global temperature up. As
the temperature increases, more water will be lost to evaporation around the globe.
In regions that depend on water from rivers like the Colorado, it will become harder and harder to
irrigate crops. This means entire agricultural centers could collapse, leading to famine. Even
though the regions closest to the depleted water source will be hit the hardest first,
no one will be able to escape the shortages of food as a result of dwindling water supplies.
And if this wasn’t bad enough, climate change and human actions have also led to
the introduction of invasive plants and animals in habitats around the world. These invasive
species strangle once-healthy ecosystems and make them much less biodiverse than
they were in the past. This is a problem in places like the Colorado River Delta,
where salt cedar and cattails use up vital nutrients that once allowed the area to be
composed of lush forests. Animals such as shellfish, shrimp, and waterfowl have been
in rapid decline as a result of these invasive species choking the ecosystem.
Less biodiversity is never good for an ecosystem or anyone living around
it. When invasive species cause a decline in native species, it often means key resources
are taken away. People who survive mainly off of seafood in the Gulf of California may find
their food supply disappearing, which is just another reason why the drying up of
the Colorado River will cause massive pain and suffering for anyone who relies on its waters.
Climate change is also causing problems at the headwaters of the Colorado River. This
means that even before states start siphoning water from the river, there is already less to
go around. Scientists estimate that around 84% of the Upper Colorado River watershed is going
through drought conditions as a result of climate change. This means that over
three-quarters of the water sources that flow into the Colorado River are in danger of drying up.
Due to higher temperatures, the snowpacks that normally accumulate during the winter are much
smaller. This means less water flows into the Colorado River when they melt.
Also, precipitation levels have been lower than normal over the last two decades,
negatively affecting the replenishment rate of the Colorado River’s headwaters.
The drought has become so bad in certain regions that water actually needs to be
brought in from other sources to provide sustenance to both livestock and wildlife.
This may be the temporary band-aid that people who rely on the Colorado River use. However,
bringing in water from afar can only be a temporary fix. At some point, these other sources
of water will also begin to run dry, and the whole problem will snowball into an even larger crisis.
The highest intensity droughts are classified as D4. These conditions are only supposed to occur
once every 50 to 100 years. However, three D4 seasons have occurred in the Colorado River basin
in the last 20 years. This is very alarming for anyone who is trying to manage the water supply as
if this trend continues, the Colorado River could completely dry up much sooner than predicted.
Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of everything that is happening to the Colorado River is that
it’s not an isolated event. Rivers and lakes around the world are drying up as a result of
overuse by humans and climate change. In the years to come, the Southwestern United States may be
someplace you won’t want to live due to water shortages, but it’s by no means the only one.
For anyone living in Australia, we have some very bad news. Over the last few years,
the continent has seen the worst drought in centuries. Rain refuses to fall,
and the country has literally been set on fire. Like most ecosystems, fires are a natural process
that an environment has to go through to remain healthy. However, these wildfires
are completely out of control and devastate huge numbers of plants, animals, and people.
Things have gotten so bad in Australia in terms of water shortages that cities
like Perth are investing heavily into desalination plants to remove
salt from seawater. This will provide much-needed fresh water for its residents,
but like many steps to curb the loss of water supplies, it may be too late.
As global climates change, weather patterns will also change. This means that areas that once
relied on annual rainy seasons may not experience the phenomena with the same intensity as before.
Freshwater supplies may never be fully replenished, and countries around the
world will have to invest in desalination like Perth. This technology is expensive
and by no means the best solution to the water crisis problem, but at this point,
we’ve backed ourselves into a corner, and in Australia, it may be the only option.
The Aral Sea used to be a vast water resource for the peoples of Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, this once precious water source has been devastated
by the selfish practices of the Soviet Unionand its successor, Russia. The Aral
Sea is not a sea at all. It was once one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.
In the last 30 years, over 60% of the water from the Aral Sea has been lost.
This started in the 1960s when the former Soviet Union decided that growing cotton
or “white gold” was more important than maintaining the rivers that fed the Aral
Sea. They diverted the waters from the Amu Darya river and the Syr Darya river
to irrigate the desert in order to grow cotton plants along with melons, rice, and cereals.
Obviously, growing anything in a desert is difficult due to the fact it’s a desert, but this
didn’t stop the Soviets from trying. For a while, in the 1980s, Uzbekistan was the largest producer
of cotton in the world, but the good times wouldn’t last. As the water sources were abused
and siphoned off, the rivers and the Aral Sea dried up. What was once the main source of fresh
water in the region, along with an abundant source of fish, is now only a shadow of what it once was.
Currently, and in the future, the areas around the Aral Sea are definitely places that you won’t
want to live due to water shortages. Before long, whatever is left of the freshwater in
the region could dry up. There will be no food or water to irrigate crops. Famine will break out,
and since much of the region is desert, finding a new water source will be impossible.
In Africa, Lake Chad used to be a vast freshwater source that provided millions
of people with water. It extends into the borders of Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon,
and Chad. However, the overuse of the lake has caused the waters to disappear rapidly.
You will likely want to stay out of the regions surrounding Lake Chad in the future for several
reasons. The main one is that 95% of the lake has disappeared over the last 50 years. This
has been caused by fluctuating rainfall patterns due to climate change, overgrazing of livestock,
and increased demand for water as the population in the area continues to grow rapidly.
The water shortages this region will experience in the future are sure to exacerbate the already
high tensions that exist around access to Lake Chad. Living in the region will be dangerous
as wars are waged to control what little water is left. In fact, fights have already broken
out between different countries for control of this vital resource. When there isn’t enough
to go around, countries could be invaded, resulting in incredibly high death tolls.
The scariest part is that, at this rate, Lake Chad may dry up completely. When this happens,
there will be no reason to fight over the land, but everyone in the region will need to leave
for areas where there is more abundant water. Unfortunately, this will likely lead to even more
conflict. The future looks grim across the world as water shortages become more and more common.
China has a booming economy and a massive population. This means there is a huge need
for water in order to sustain huge amounts of agriculture, keep industries moving,
and for citizens to consume. This has put enormous stains on water sources such as the Yangtze River.
Due to overuse and extreme droughts the Yangtze has reached its lowest point in recorded history.
The Yangtze extends across much of China, and the lowering of its waters has caused China to
issue a nationwide drought alert. The 84 million people living in the Sichuan province have felt
the immediate effects of the scarcity of water from the Yangtze, as 80% of their electricity
comes from hydropower generated by the river. This is on top of the fact that less water to
irrigate crops has led to lower yields, which is hurting both the local people and their exports.
Reservoirs across the nation that the Yangtze normally feeds are completely dried up. In the
future, this region could experience even more droughts, and the enormous populations
that rely on the river for all their water and energy will be in big trouble.
There is a high probability that if China doesn’t take immediate action to mitigate the human-caused
forces resulting in the river drying up, millions and millions of people will die.
This is also a good time to mention that although hydroelectric power is a clean source of energy,
it is by no means environmentally friendly. The only way to generate hydroelectric power is by
building dams that disrupt entire ecosystems. The rivers that once flowed freely are stopped in
their tracks, and the land that was home to plants and animals is now underwater. Dams can also cause
massive erosion both upriver and downriver from where they are located. Disruption to water flow
has unintended consequences throughout the river ecosystem. Populations of fish and other animals
that rely on the river and its nutrients can be irreparably harmed. At the same time, droughts
will have a much harsher effect on areas where the flow of water has slowed as a result of the dam.
Europe may seem like a safe place to live in the future due to its push towards renewable energy
and consistently having countries that are rated the happiest places to live in year after year,
but even this continent will suffer from water shortages. The Rhine River flows
from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea. It’s a vital pathway for European shipping to
move goods and resources from the middle of the continent to other parts of the world.
However, due to the overuse of the river and climate change, the Rhine’s waters
are drying up. This has made navigating the Rhine incredibly difficult. Ships must now
dodge land that is rising out of the water due to its low levels. This means getting resources
into the European heartland is more difficult and could have drastic consequences for the future.
Of course, the shipping lanes are important, but what is even more alarming is the thought that
as the Rhine dries up and other water sources in Europe become more scarce,
some tough decisions will need to be made. Water-intensive industries like
wine and beer production will need to be slowed or ceased.
Many scientists believe there is still hope for our freshwater resources. Unfortunately,
there will be pain before things get better. Places like Las Vegas incentivize their citizens
to plant desert plants that require very small amounts of water in their yards instead of grass.
Water use restrictions for washing your car or watering your lawn are put in place to reduce
non-essential water use. And regulations are being passed to force corporations
to use better water management practices and to recycle the water that they do use.
Some agricultural companies are moving towards hydroponics, which allows more crops to grow
with less water and nutrients. Environmental activists are lobbying to protect our rivers,
watersheds, and wetlands so that native ecosystems can thrive and biodiversity can increase. We still
have a long way to go before we stop the overconsumption of our water supplies and
find ways to provide everyone around the world with clean drinking water, but it can be done.
However, until we place more importance on protecting our freshwater sources,
you might want to consider where you decide to live in the future. If action isn’t taken soon,
all of the places mentioned in this video will likely be both dangerous and deadly to live in.
Now watch “Where You Wouldn't Want to Live if World War 3 Starts.” Or
check out “These Countries Are Impossible to Invade.”