Watch Out for Water Shortages

Reuters is reporting that scientists predict that North America will soon be facing water shortages due to global warming.

For someone whose household depends on a relatively shallow private well into the Ogallala aquifer, it is a little disconcerting to read:

Droughts would also occur more often in the U.S. Midwest and Southwest as warmer temperatures evaporate soil moisture.

Those droughts could diminish underground supplies like the Edwards Aquifer in Texas, which supplies 2 million people with water, by up to 40 percent, and cut levels of the Ogallala aquifer which underlies eight U.S. states, the report said.

During droughts like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, U.S. farmers pumped water from underground aquifers to save their fields through irrigation. "Much of that water is now gone," said MacCracken. "We've used up our savings bank."