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The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

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Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#11

Post by shakezula »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #6

I read that as being harshly sarcastic but I'm now thinking it might be unintentional the way they make these people out to be obviously the source of their own issues. It seems like the suburbs who actually pay taxes to provide the water are being prioritised for water access and the people who intentionally built were there were no rules are upset that other people aren't following the rules.

"Government for thee, not for me" is the prevailing sentiment for these types. The article even mentions it - the "fuck you, I got mine" attitude is a core cultural identity to Americans and this is exactly how it manifests.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#12

Post by BaseballPhysics »

mooreds wrote: post #2

The final quote is chilling: “We got two great offers in, and neither of them cared about the water situation. They believe that the county is not going to let five hundred homes next to one of the wealthiest cities go without water.” We'll see what happens in 2023, when Scottsdale no longer sells water to the water haulers. The Water Knife feels more and more prophetic.

Eh, it's the same logic when people move to coastal areas that will be impacted by sea level rise. No one can imagine they'll be the ones who get screwed over, and certainly not if they're wealthy.

As such, I'm not sure I would call it chilling so much as entirely predictable.

The real failure is in the states and municipalities that are approving the building in the first place.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#13

Post by Enginerrrd »

bradfa wrote: post #5

I can feel for the people who have been living there for a long time and now have to deal with the water situation. But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. I have no information about this, but I would expect that homeowner's insurance should get much more expensive for these locations as without access to water it's quite hard to h…

>I have no information about this, but I would expect that homeowner's insurance should get much more expensive for these locations as without access to water it's quite hard to have firefighting infrastructure. Without firefighters, homes and humans are at much higher risk. Maybe insurance economics will help to resolve this?

It's pretty normal in rural areas to basically not have a fire department for all practical purposes anyway. Yeah, they often have a volunteer fire department, but when your best case scenario response time is like 30 minutes, you're not gonna save structures anyway. That's not considering the wildfire risk at all.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#15

Post by MisterTea »

bradfa wrote: post #5

I can feel for the people who have been living there for a long time and now have to deal with the water situation. But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. I have no information about this, but I would expect that homeowner's insurance should get much more expensive for these locations as without access to water it's quite hard to h…

> But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk.

From the article: "They believe that the county is not going to let five hundred homes next to one of the wealthiest cities go without water.”

In their mind: "This is America." Meaning they are used to living in the "Land of plenty" never thinking that one day, it could end.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#16

Post by MisterTea »

joshuaheard wrote: post #14

On a planet that is 2/3 water, I think we can find a solution. Desalination comes to mind. We built an interstate highway system. We can build an interstate water distribution system for desalinated Pacific Ocean water.

Desalination requires energy and the ocean is far away for a lot of people.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#17

Post by ch4s3 »

shakezula wrote: post #11
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #6

I read that as being harshly sarcastic but I'm now thinking it might be unintentional the way they make these people out to be obviously the source of their own issues. It seems like the suburbs who actually pay taxes to provide the water are being prioritised for water access and the people who intentionally built were there were no rules are upset that other people aren't following the rules.

"Government for thee, not for me" is the prevailing sentiment for these types. The article even mentions it - the "fuck you, I got mine" attitude is a core cultural identity to Americans and this is exactly how it manifests.

That is absolutely NOT a core cultural identity to Americans. There is a tendency to want to solve things at a local or regional level that frustrates larger issues like water management. There is also a western do it yourself individualism that puts common resources in contention, but Americans aren't all some John Galt/John Wayne hybrid.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#18

Post by juve1996 »

MisterTea wrote: post #15
bradfa wrote: post #5

I can feel for the people who have been living there for a long time and now have to deal with the water situation. But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. I have no information about this, but I would expect that homeowner's insurance should get much more expensive for these locations as without access to water it's quite hard to h…

> But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. From the article: "They believe that the county is not going to let five hundred homes next to one of the wealthiest cities go without water.” In their mind: "This is America." Meaning they are used to living in the "Land of plenty" never thinking that one day, it could end.

> Meaning they are used to living in the "Land of plenty" never thinking that one day, it could end.

This was my thought as well. The music is about to stop. Many don't realize it. Some don't believe it. Some actively deny it. But it's happening, and faster than we're ready for.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#19

Post by sbf501 »

juve1996 wrote: post #18
MisterTea wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. From the article: "They believe that the county is not going to let five hundred homes next to one of the wealthiest cities go without water.” In their mind: "This is America." Meaning they are used to living in the "Land of plenty" never thinking that one day, it could end.

> Meaning they are used to living in the "Land of plenty" never thinking that one day, it could end. This was my thought as well. The music is about to stop. Many don't realize it. Some don't believe it. Some actively deny it. But it's happening, and faster than we're ready for.

Many of us do realize it and are just sitting here staring at the screen at work realizing what a horrible mistake it all was, and hoping the fall won't as bad as the movies lead us to believe.

Re: The Water Wars Come to the Suburbs

#20

Post by crooked-v »

joshuaheard wrote: post #14

On a planet that is 2/3 water, I think we can find a solution. Desalination comes to mind. We built an interstate highway system. We can build an interstate water distribution system for desalinated Pacific Ocean water.

For this particular situation, that's a lot of money to spend just to serve already-well-off people willingly choosing to live in the desert in a drought.
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