Life will be fine. Exporting alfalfa from the Imperial Valley, however, might be done for.

Not sure if it's different over there, but farming in Australia (whether with questionable water reliance or not) is considered sacrosanct and pushback would be a political risk. Any foreign-owned alfalfa exporters would just throw lobbyists behind broader farming coalitions (small farmers, ranchers, locals, etc) to protect themselves. Residents will cop water restrictions before then, as has happened before.

	▲	onlypassingthru 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That's been the same playbook up here but we're on the verge of uncharted territory as the hydro generators will soon be forced to shut down outside of Las Vegas. It's one thing to ask everyone to take shorter showers and xeriscape their yard, but it's a whole different level if nobody can afford to run the AC in 110F/43C heat.

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estearum 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Water rights unfortunately don't really work like "residents > business."

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onlypassingthru 9 hours ago | parent [-]

No, but voters do. And the veneers are coming off around water conservation.

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estearum 8 hours ago | parent [-]

I wish I shared your optimism about the power of American democracy.

Just as the residents' needs get more existential, so do the businesses'

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onlypassingthru 7 hours ago | parent [-]

It's not only water, power prices are going to spike when there's no hydroelectric coming from Glen Canyon or Hoover Dams. How many 10's of millions of people get some of their power and or water from this one river?

	▲	estearum 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		We don't disagree on the problem. We disagree on whether that means suddenly residents' needs will overcome business interests. They haven't for 100 years in the Southwest. Why would they now?

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hnav 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

they'll just start pumping groundwater again which will cause huge earthquakes

	▲	Loggias 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
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