by Carla Heimerl

Created on: May 28, 2008

One day, in the not so distant future, we may be fighting wars over water! War with other countries is bad enough, but the future water wars may pit state against state, or one water rich area of the country against the drought stricken.

The average person is unaware of the numerous droughts going on in the USA today. From California to Florida, to Alabama and Minnesota, many areas in America are suffering under drought conditions. Lakes are drying up with the lowest levels on record. Crops are failing, and in some areas it is so dry that nothing grows at all! In the hot, dry southwestern states drought conditions are now considered the new norm in many areas!

If you are a well owner, the day may soon come when you will have to dig a new, deeper, well. As water tables get lower and lower all over the country, rural home owners are faced with the ongoing hunt for elusive, fresh, pure water supplies. Every area is different, but now most wells are over 200 feet deep, and within a few years that depth may no longer be adequate.

Farmers are pumping water out of deep aquifers faster than nature can replace it. America feeds the world, and this is part of the price we are paying for it. Our huge, vast, underground stores of fresh water are being used up, and once it is gone, it's gone for good! It took many millions of years for nature to create these natural resources and now, it takes man only a few hundred years to deplete it.

So what is going to happen out west when they can no longer rely on irrigation, when the snow pack off the mountains is no longer large enough to provide water to a thirsty population? One solution is the Great Lakes. One of the largest fresh water sources in the world, the Great Lakes is a vast supply of fresh water that seems inexhaustible. If those dry southwestern states wanted to establish a pipeline from the Great Lakes across the country to California, what do you think is going to happen?

I can tell you, a pipeline of this sort may well provoke a civil war. The states around the Great Lakes have their own problems with ever decreasing water tables. Many communities have water conservation in practice during summer months, and just about every rural citizen is aware that their well could go dry at any time, and they will have to dig a new, deeper, more expensive well. Just about everyone is aware that water may become as precious as gold in the future.

Adding to all of this is the way other areas of the country perceive the water problems

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