[winflop]

[quote author=washingtonismoney link=topic=12002.msg116353#msg116353 date=1428521325]
Water is underpriced and needs to be set up on more of a market basis. There's your starting point.

Raising the price of water, or otherwise making it anything but accessible to everyone relatively equally, will lead to never ending war and civil unrest.  California may be a coming example.
[/quote]

OTOH, actually investing in water collection and storage infrastructure to match the growing population and agriculture business would alleviate much of the issue.  Also, stupid environmental policies and allowing beverage companies to siphon off drinking water to bottle it reduce the available supply.  IMnsHO, there's no excuse for not having at least a dozen desalination plants running off abundant and relatively clean natural gas up and down the coastline.  There's also no excuse for not being able to collect more water from the melting snowpack.  California has done a terrible job - across both Democrat and Republican administrations - over the last 50+ years, and now we are paying the price for it.

[winflop]

[quote author=washingtonismoney link=topic=12002.msg116353#msg116353 date=1428521325]
Water is underpriced and needs to be set up on more of a market basis. There's your starting point.

Raising the price of water, or otherwise making it anything but accessible to everyone relatively equally, will lead to never ending war and civil unrest.  California may be a coming example.
[/quote]

OTOH, actually investing in water collection and storage infrastructure to match the growing population and agriculture business would alleviate much of the issue.  Also, stupid environmental policies and allowing beverage companies to siphon off drinking water to bottle it reduce the available supply.  IMnsHO, there's no excuse for not having at least a dozen desalination plants running off abundant and relatively clean natural gas up and down the coastline.  There's also no excuse for not being able to collect more water from the melting snowpack.  California has done a terrible job - across both Democrat and Republican administrations - over the last 50+ years, and now we are paying the price for it.