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The water crisis that is taking hold of many parts of the country has begun to draw attention to the lack of water infrastructure. There are several factors that have put this drought cycle into the realm of a crisis. With the lack of water beginning to effect everything from watering our lawns to keeping cattle fed and hydrated, we have some serious and difficult truths to learn and we need to evaluate our precepts on how to harmoniously occupy the same areas we have, and still have ample resources to do so.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the distribution of water. In my area, we have no shortage of drinking water. We receive nearly 13 Feet (yes feet) of rain a year. This collects in numerous lakes on our large island and we then draw our drinking water from those lakes. With this ample resource, we could easily pipe water to other locations to be used for drinking or irrigation, where it is so desperately needed. However, there is no infrastructure in place for this. If it was constructed similar to the electric grid, it would be a matter of allotting the resource to where it is needed most. The costs, however, have grown so fast, and so little of it has been built, and none of it planned, that it would be a massive undertaking now. Tanking the water would be expensive as well, but the next best bet. Transporting a large container ship, similar to an oil rig, but with water, could serve the coastal regions, which would leave more water for interior regions, but the effect would be slim due to non-constant delivery.

The other infrastructure we lack is dams. Environmental propaganda has demonized dam building and reduced our capacity to retain water in lush times, for the dry spells, as well as limited our ability to generate other resources such as electricity from these dams. Being ecologically responsible is important, but the costs must be weighed with the greater good of the region and the country. If we were to reduce the restrictions on dam building, and encourage more of them in regions of drought, or regions around drought areas, we could bolster those areas up, and provide clean and inexpensive electricity, all while reducing our dependence on oil from foreign sources.

The other problem is largely that people expect the government to enforce conservation of water in areas that are feeling the strongest droughts. This is not something that governments can do effectively. Ever action the government takes is expensive and inefficient. Enforcing

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