Southwest Drought concerns

[Adam Frantz]

I keep hearing folks talking about hot markets in CA, AZ, and Las Vegas. I left CA about 10 years ago due to concerns about water. I am confused though why many of these areas are on the brink of having water shut off and maybe power if the dam can’t run and yet they are still growing markets with high housing prices. If you are investing for the future, are these not concerns of yours? What am I missing?

[Matt Devincenzo]

70-80% of the Southwest's and specifically Socal water use is irrigation for farms. That means even a 50% reduction in urban use only correlates to a maximum of 15% saved. 

You will see a food shortage due to fallowing farms before you will see an issue related to urban water use. There are at least 10M residents in an urban environment that would be impacted by shutoffs, compared to several hundred thousand farmers...and you can even prioritize those for food security vs hay and processing production. 

Total urban water use decreased for nearly 20 years even while the actual number of residents has increased. So the actual solution and the concern isn't for residential users its farms, and water purveyors. I think urban water use will be further offset by reuse programs for drinking water, which can easily provide a 50% reduction in imported water.