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10/22/2007: "Drought dooms humans after reckless growth"

A report by the National Academies on the Colorado River basin had recently concluded that the combination of limited Colorado River water supplies, increasing demands, warmer temperatures and the prospect of recurrent droughts "point to a future in which the potential for conflict" among those who use the river will be ever-present.

Over the past few decades, the driest states in the United States have become some of our fastest-growing; meanwhile, an ongoing drought has brought the flow of the Colorado to its lowest levels since measurements at Lee.s Ferry began 85 years ago. At the Senate hearing, Udall stated that the Colorado River basin is already two degrees warmer than it was in 1976 and that it is foolhardy to imagine that the next 50 years will resemble the last 50.

[ No intelligent leaders pointed out that we were overburdening the land? Some people did, but they weren't popular enough to become leaders. ]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21water-t.html?em&ex=1193198400&en=e32e766b398790c1&ei=5087%0A