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Climate Change to Worsen Severe Water Shortages in US Southwest
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 02.11.11
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/climate-change-worsen-severe-water-shortages-us-southwest.php

   We're already well aware that the American Southwest, which is naturally 
hot and dry, is seriously strapped for water. And the situation is getting 
worse every day, with populations in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New 
Mexico continuing an unimpeded growth trend that began decades ago. The fact 
there are too many people vying for limited resources in the region have lead 
experts to predict a major water shortfall that will cost billions to 
ameliorate. But add in a new study that reveals climate change is going to 
dry out the region even further, and we're slated to see a potentially 
catastrophic water shortage.

Time's Bryan Walsh reports:

    climate change could make the situation much, much worse. According to 
the SEI study, global warming could increase the long-term water shortfall by 
a quarter, adding an additional 282 million to 439 million acre feet of water 
to the 1.815 billion acre feet shortfall already expected. Based on the price 
of adding reservoir capacity in California, meeting the baseline water 
shortage could cost $2.3 trillion--yes, that's "trillion" with a "t"--plus 
$353 billion to $549 billion if climate change is factored in. Higher water 
prices would make adaptation even more expensive--assuming additional water 
could be found at all in a drier future.

But even beyond the mere cost of creating additional reservoirs -- which 
would no doubt be exorbitant -- there's the fact that a hotter, dryer 
Southwest will demand more and more energy for cooling. There's the fact that 
it may reach temperatures that are well near unlivable in some of the desert 
regions. There's the fact that climate change will make cities in places like 
Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico far less sustainable than they already are. 
There's the fact that warmer climes will have an indelible impact on the 
region's ecosystems -- previous studies have noted that climate change may 
convert the US Southwest into a permanent desert.