You Can't Feed Your Kids Oil, But Eating Is Overrated Anyway.

It's been here for a while.  It's what happens when you begin to run short on something everybody needs.

It's America's frackers versus America's farmers.  They both want water and there's not enough to go around.  Frackers want it to get oil and gas out of the ground.  Farmers need it to grow food.

This is only just getting started but, this year, an estimated 1.2-billion dollars of corn, soya and wheat crops are at risk to the industrial demand for scarce water.

...industrial water users typically have a higher capacity to absorb the increased costs associated with rising water prices in comparison to agricultural water users, threatening an impact on crop production and yield if farmers are priced out of the market.

The stress on water resources is already considerable. Within the US, 18% of harvested cropland is irrigated (pdf), most of which is attributed to corn, soy, wheat and hay, but also includes water-intensive crops such as sugar beets, sugar cane, rice and cotton. Some 412 irrigation-intensive US counties are currently facing moderate to high levels of water stress – around 23% of total US land area.

...approximately one-third of publicly traded US electric utilities derive more than 10% of their electric power generation from already water stressed regions. One in every four publicly traded US electric utilities operate in counties that are both water stressed and irrigation intensive.

In the US, if the situation remains as it is today, the competition for water resources may reach a tipping point that results in stranded assets, reduced productivity, and increased tensions between farmers and industry. In the medium term, policymakers may need to dictate water allocation priorities.

Of course 1.2-billion dollars worth of foodstuffs is really small potatoes but it's a problem that could grow massively as America's aquifers are being drained, wells running dry even as sustained drought continues in America's agricultural belt.

I know!  Why don't they just frack for water?  Oh, I get it, never mind. 

There's Not Enough Water to Go Around

This curious graphic depicts areas that are expected to be severely water stressed through the balance of this century.  Note that hard-hit countries include China, India, Brazil, western Russia, the United States and the nations of Central America and western South America.

The assessment by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division, concludes that water shortages may even impair efforts at climate change mitigation.  The idea is that there won't be enough water to permit the development of bio-fuels.  What the report doesn't say is that this strengthens the case for development of non-carbon, renewable energy alternatives.

The report confirms other research finding that, by 2100, half of the global population will be enduring severe water shortage.  Unless, that is, something drastic comes along to cull the herd in the meantime.