60 Minutes climate archive: Running Dry 

The drought is always blamed as though it's the sole issue, but expanding cities, bad pipe infrastructure and the wastage of water by the population, businesses and farms are all part of it too.

Farming in the desert is as crazy as unlimited population growth in the desert. There are plenty of acres east of the Mississippi that can be farmed.

I’m a member of one of the Colorado River tribes talked about in this clip. We have a seat at the table now but still being dismissed regarding input. We’ve live for thousands of years on the banks of the river and the river looks so small nowadays. I never thought I would see it in my time. Our home is drying up before our eyes

I feel bad for the farmers, but It makes no sense to farm in the desert anymore, it's not effective use of water.

Who in their right mind thought that despite the growing problems of climate change, that they should move... all the way to the desert... where there is a water shortage?

"The problem is not to find the answer, but to face it." -Terence McKenna

Temperatures for 4 months in Phoenix are in the triple digits Over 120 It is a desert No one was ever supposed to live there, but there are 10 MILLION PEOPLE LIVING THERE !!!!! THAT'S INSANE !!!

Lake Mead dropped to under 1065 feet 4 weeks ago. Up one foot in 4 weeks.

I feel like the increase in human consumption of the water over the last 20 years is just as much of the problem.

Overpopulation is the elephant in the room. If we didn't have tens of millions of people dependent upon Colorado River water, there wouldn't be an issue. The US has a population of a third of a billion. I'm not sure we can sustain the people, cities and farms that we currently have, much less add more.

When i was in the school (almost 20 years ago) I read a nice science book that compared the water consumption in different place on earth... There, it was said that an average american uses 2500 liters (660 galons) to 3000 liters (790 galons) of water daily... While some european ones uses just about 500 liters... Its a huge difference.... And i guess that the consumption get even higher in arid and dry climate with all those pools and grass

That last statement was what's going to happen. "it's just a matter of time before it's all gonna be gone." He was talking about the farm water, but it's deeper then that, when the farm water go's, so will all the other uses we have for water. One of these days, a glass of water will be worth a pretty penny.

AZ is in trouble!!! People denied this years ago I heard. Now, look. We need people like Udall, who research this. Thank you. One idea is no new lawns in AZ and bordering states. Just rock landscape etc.

Is it not a fact that alfalfa and cotton are two of the most thirsty crops one can choose to grow? Seems like a no brainer.

Almost like building a bunch of cities in a desert wasn’t a sustainable option..

There are so many bodies at the deepest part of the lakes. When we see the bottom, so many cold cases and missing person cases will be solved

Why do we need gourds?

Something should have been done 20 years ago,

This is just the natural outcome of turning desert into farm land. It couldn't last forever, and it should not. The crops should be grown at a higher latitude where water delivery is less threatened. And people in LA should not be hosing down their damn driveways.

It is truly a sad situation. And, even sadder that 20 years has passed for people to wake up to the situation. We now face 2026 when the states and all those dependent on the water are legally required to come up with a new plan for water management. Obviously the old plan was not addressing the problem. Even as early as 1990, when a Phoenix suburb was developed, there was talk of the need for better water management. This suburb is known for the World's Tallest Fountain, squirting almost 600 feet in height, in the largest, most arid, metropolitan area of the lower 48. i.e. This was a monumental monument; man can conquer nature. There has been talk of conservation for 30 years but not embraced by the inhabitants. Attitude is the problem. Let me give you another example. In 2002 one of the Native American tribes in the Southwest asked the architectural firm that I worked at to submit a master plan for a new residential development. I was not involved in the project but all members of the company were invited to attend a presentation to the tribe. I decided to sit in the back of the meeting room that could accommodate 300. The tribe representatives were between me and the raised stage. The architect assigned to lead the proposal, had recently joined the company, relocated from a state in the mid-west. The PowerPoint showed the street layout and relation to the “Old Town” that had existed before arrival of the Mayflower. At the center of the development the architect planned a “Green Space” and actually was colored as green on the otherwise brown, black and white plan. Every time he said Green Space several tribe reps would whisper to each other. I did not intend to comment but felt the need to and raised my hand. It was my attempt, by example, to let the tribe members know that they could chime in anytime. The best that I could think to say in this touchy situation was “can we call it something other than Green Space?” To which the lead architect replied, “there has to be a Green Space, desert is so boring otherwise” in a matter of fact manner. I think you get the picture that he aspired to recreate Cincinnati’s Eden Park, or Chicago’s Portage Park but was limited by the budget. Water was a very minor issue to the project team. As you might have guessed; this Native American old town for 1000 years did not have Green Space manicured lawn, nor fountains, nor sculptured hedges despite being founded on the banks of a river. That was not due to lack of budget, it was simply dealing with reality.

So are sea levels rising or falling?

Stop over populating a nice place! You let every house developer go nuts!

So when the population grows no one thinks about efficiency? That seems pretty stupid.

Everyone wants a full meal with only crumbs left

Inappropriate crops like cotton (not food) and alfalfa (not human food) are the thirstiest here in Arizona. I would be WAY more sympathetic toward our farmers if they grew only food for humans. Cochise County is committing water suicide by growing massive amounts of alfalfa for feed lot baby dairy cows destined for Midwest dairy farms, and they don't get ANY water from the river.

The largest snow storm ever is falling right now and will raise Lake Mead 50 feet this spring

Interesting piece....👍

The Utah part of this story is so discouraging 😔

I like greens in winter, but I'm sure I can live without gourds and cotton?

Yeah what are you going to say when it fills up again.

It would be interesting to see the present situation after the last two months of historic rain and snow events.

Two months later, record snowfall has resurrected hope for a replenished Colorado River, and all the water users will go back to their unsustainable water habits. Predictably, the crisis will eventually return, but a more entrenched climate change might not save the Colorado River again.

How frustrating to know that this was not just preventable, future pain is preventable and the necessary actions aren’t being taken.

Water, electricity costs and property taxes are nuts in Arizona.

The bottom line is that this planet cannot withstand infinite growth. These resource-scarce regions are just the first to feel the squeeze.

If there really is a drought, then why are there golf courses, grass lawns, outdoor swimming pools and water intensive crops being grown?

He’s farming gords in a desert - are gords really critical to society….

Watching this now, as I've just started reading the book "Cadillac Desert". The history behind this is overwhelming, the future is pretty scary.

I still say a good 15 to 25 percent of our water is in mega warehouses throughout the world remember all those soda companies use water to make there products and then stock these mega warehouses with bottled water to

Perhaps some of the residents could quickly consider putting a pond installation in their yard, on their property as a water source, it will not connect with the need for water but at least it would possibly serve as a water source on their land.

Mexico, homes get 150 gallons of water per week. That's it. We need to learn from that. "Cities to use water as efficient as possible." Residential sector can live on 150 gal per person, per week.. Cut our water use 90% NOW! The days when a household used 10,000 gallons per month are over! --WATER WASTING IS OVER. 1. Take 2 gallon showers( 1/4 gallon per min ) showerhead. 2. Laundry water, recycle for toilet water and plant irrigation. 3. Install photo-eye faucets( 6oz per use ). Use foam soap, yes SIX OUNCES is enough. 4. Drinking water, purchase bottled water. 5. Lawn irrigation in desert States, discontinued forever. Replace grass with artificial turf, or alternative landscape. Recommendation: TAKE DRASTIC MEASURES NOW. GET WATER BACK INTO RESERVOIRS. OTHERWISE, YOU WILL RUN OUT OF ELECTRIC POWER TOO.

The problem is urban sprawl... Not enough water for the last 15 years of new transplants to Arizona, Nevada and Utah An unprecedented housing crash will happen in the region bcuz it will be a mass abandonment situation once HydroElectricity is impacted. It's just a matter of time at this point

Sad I visited the west in the 90s..water was up at lake mead the hoover dam has these cylindrical hexagonal white pipes just had their heads poking above that water now they are damn near fully exposed covered by hardly any water.

they shouldve been creating water pipelines from the pacific to those mid western states. , and ya cant say its impossible as there not only roads that do so, trains, but also oil pipelines.

I doubt this is the right place to make a suggestion but there isnt such a link that i could find. I think we should have a Snow Drive...like a toy drive. All neighbouring states with exess snow....including Alaska and Canada if they want and start trucking in snow and dumping it into to the head waters of the Colorado river in the rockies. Snow was already going to be dumped there anyways naturally as snow is freash water. Or organize a collection of snow for redistribution that falls in the roockies and push/move/truck towards the Colorado river head waters. Theres nothing more to do as nature takes over with melt and flow

If Colorado River is going dry why is Governor Newsom shuttering Huntington Beach Desal FreshWater Plant ?

Why do we have so many farms in desert states?

The elephant in the room here is that the whole world economic system is based on population and consumption growth rather than sustainability. Too many humans living in a throw away culture, companies no longer producing durable goods, tech companies making their own product obsolete through software slowdowns to force you to buy new ones - chip makers use insane amounts of water and multiple fabs are opening in Arizona now, not to mention the rare earth mines that are required. Why don't economists ever discuss this? 8 billion is already over stressing the world, we can't continue exponential growth forever, we need to start stopping and planning for how that will work now.

Sam Kinison has a bit about living in the desert.

Folks here on the Front Range are not getting it. The lawns they plant and insist on having are gonna have to go. Serious stuff. Lessons to learn, and quickly.

Wouldn't be a drought if that Dam wasn't there. Starving the earth of water

The Sahara desert has fossils of mangrove roots. In this world sea”s become deserts. This is just the first time 40 million people have depended on the “sea”

OK, let me see if I can convey in a compact way, what is, and has been, on my mind about freshwater, relative to the planet, and inherently our lives. First, I have to wonder, where is all the water? Right? It's like Gold, it doesn't go away, it doesn't literally get used up, it is ALL still here, since the beginning of time. Somewhere. Some say desalination is the answer. At first, I was shocked! I surmised that this would ultimately alter/change the Ocean, and the life in it. Well, theoretically, I think this is still correct, BUT, then I though about all of the polar ice melting, due to climate change. OK, that will help keep salination of the ocean in balance, diluting the brine being dumped in from desal plants. Check. What about aquifers? Well, I have read some interesting articles/data about hem, mostly in the USA, but a few about the Sahara Desert too. OK, they are tracking them, they know about them, and can guesstimate their content, or lack thereof. Good. Check. What about weather patterns? Mother Nature will handle that/them. Good. Check. What about rain collection/harvesting? Well, that's a regional, or area specific argument, and seems to be hammered out in local jurisdictions. That's good. Check. What about pulling water from the air? Again, initially I was shocked at this idea. Won't this affect weather patterns? Well, then I also reckoned, no, not really, evaporation will do it's thing, and replenish the moisture in the air. That's good. Check. What about conservation of water resources, and recycling? Well, we have been working on this lately in California, and I think Arizona too, so that's getting figured out, and most people ARE onboard with it, so that's good. Check. So what about the super poor countries that don't have the resources, funding, infrastructure to make/get fresh water? Well, they can refer to the aforementioned thoughts, and to boot, a lot of great help is being channeled to them from 1st world nations, there are articles and videos that support this comment. It will take time, but help is on the way. That's good. Check. So you see folks, WE as a human race, ARE aware, and ARE working on it! We are learning, albeit slowly, to conserve water, use it wisely, and help others. THAT is good! Now if we can just turn off the water to the super unnecessary stuff like Las Vegas Hotel displays, and build smaller pools, use more water friendly plants and grasses for our homes, etc etc, we'll be alright. We will figure it all out, and do ok! We need to worry about other facets of the stone though, like the water used to make a hamburger! Over 600 gallons per beef patty! Eat more Chicken, huh? LOL ;) Maybe if we stop spending so much money on MIL, we could use it for infrastructure too? Yeah, that would be great. Check. ..

Thank you for telling the real story here … this story hits all of the leading variables and doesn’t over simplify this to “climate change”, which is not a leading variable in what’s happening here. Yes, it’s a variable, but it’s a contributing variable, not a leading one.

when explorer john wesley powell testified before congress in 1870:he warned that the desert southwest should never be attempted to be farmed or populated . congress ignored him . too many people , not enough water . simple

Why not use seawater desalination form the pacific ocean to add additional supply? In addition to measures designed to cut back on use of fresh water across the country.

Doom doom doomed… earth 🌍 fights back

9:03 Idiots like this are going to be the end of us. Too concerned what they're entitled too and not seeing that it'll result in them having nothing at all.

The natural deserts of Arizona and parts (Imperial Cty. Has a huge apportionment of Colo. R.) of Cali. plant thirsty crops, like Bibb lettuce. Nobody uses sensible water mgt. policies. Interstate water wars will only intensify.

some use trees to lower the evaporation of water

We all need to do the rain dance!!

So why hasn't wick irrigation been used in agriculture?

Farmers first 🙌🏾

Time to apply The Three Sisters solution to growing 3 different crops squash, corn and beans with very little water.

We saw the Origin of the Colorado River which is the modest runoff from a small wooden dam near Old Sulfur Hot Springs!

Sad 😞

Clearly the river was never built to be Y2K compliant

Let's hope that there'll be more gallons of water.

, climate change was not a phrase in the year 2000.

Lower basin has too many people. Upper basin want to use more water and to grow. We just need to get 10 million people to move from the lower basin to the upper basin.

Seems like they have been fighting over water for the last century. So how do desert countries manage? Desalination of the ocean might be one solution. Nuclear power plants and desalination plants. We have adapt to change. The news broadcast should also mention potential long term solutions like I mention.

With a surplus in the Midwest Corn Belt, why would any sane person plant a thirsty corn crop in Arizona, @1:33 ??? Do we want more corn and less electricity?

Need more golf courses in the deserts.....................Murica

The farmers need to organize against the golf courses.

Well they should only allow food crops two grow that are for food only for citizens in America , not crops for products like tires ect or export

Trying to find Static seriously I sitting at the feed store in Somerville tx 77879 and they didn't never come back was looking out trolling my hair really panicking

What about the plan of diverting the Columbia.

that farmer is a millionaire, I don't feel your pain

Show people how many golf courts per 1k people St George UT has.

The biggest idea I am trying to express is tunneling aqueducts from the coast, in this case the west coast of the USA inland to feed combination geothermal power and sea water desalination plants. The idea seems to be so big that no one has considered it possible but I believe it is not only possible but it is necessary. For over a century the fossil water contained in aquifers has been pumped out to feed agriculture, industry and municipal water needs. The natural water cycle cant refill fossil water deposits that were filled 10,000 years ago when the glaciers melted after the last ice age. Without refilling these aquifers there is not much of a future for the region of the United states. As a result ground levels in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley have subsided by more than 30 feet. Similar fossil water depletion is happening in other regions all around the world. TBM and tunneling technology has matured and further developments in the industry are poised to speed up the tunneling process and it's these tunnels that are the only way to move large volumes of water from the ocean inland. The water is moved inland to areas where it can be desalinated in geothermal plants producing clean water and power. In many cases the water will recharge surface reservoirs where it will be used first to make more hydro power before being released into rivers and canal systems. It's very important however to not stop tunneling at these first stops but to continue several legs until the water has traveled from the ocean under mountain ranges to interior states. Along the way water will flow down grade through tunnels and rise in geothermal loops to fill mountain top pumped hydro batteries several times before eventually recharging several major aquifers. What I am proposing is essentially reversing the flow of the Colorado River Compact. Bringing water from the coast of California first to mountaintop reservoirs then to the deserts of Nevada and Arizona and on to Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. This big idea looks past any individual city or states problems and looks at the whole and by using first principles identifies the actual problem and only solution. Thank you for your time, I would like the opportunity to explain in further detail and answer any questions. A better future is possible, David

Droughts are like storms . . .cycles.

"dial back demand"? shouldn't y'all have come to that conclusion back when the dams were built? but y'all need swimming pools and grass lawns?

They need to stop developing. The more people come in; the more resources are needed.

Some thing is being over looked Why is the water lower Go fare back to where it comes from Mountain tops that are not white like the old days Water is going to thr oceans now Better get water from the oceans better not mess with the river Dont mess with the river

there is more water taken from the river than the amount of flow in the river . farmers and cities are contracted for water supply that is greater than the capacity of the river . not a big mystery why the levels are low . ….glen canyon dam is the worst ecological disaster in US history .

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just move the city to Utah.

Plant almond trees in big non leaking pots.

Don't Take the water from the river hello ...if you move it will dry by the dirt ....keep the water in the lakes or river government will always miss up the water paths

The country waste billions in military help to foreign nation,why they don’t use that money to build a pipe line from those southern states that suffered flooded every year,is just lack of interest,this country priorities are all wrong,care about yours first then you worried about others.

Sure doesn't help with the food problem ...

TALK TALK TALK good bye, waste not want not. Should have taken water shortage seriously years ago..

Let us pray for water

That dude can change cotton for hemp, hemp is better and doesn’t need much water

why not upgrade the farmers to large scale hydroponic farms? it is a desert we don't want to overuse something that's now getting scarce, and maybe conserve river siphoning so it can replenish itself. we don't want a repeat the dust bowl or whatever is going to happens when the river dries up.

Thousand year draught... that darned Putin. And he made the gas price hike too.

Stupidity in the lower states is what we call it in Colorado.

I saw this episode originally aired in December 2021. You just ran it on your summer reruns on 7/30/23. You all should do some research on when you rerun a 1.5 year old episode. Things have changed quite drastically for the better in the Colorado River basin since you originally aired this piece on 12/21. It is embarrassing that you dredged up this "old news".

Wtf, this is how economy works the bad selutions looooosing, and the good thing wins! This is what this country is build of. adapt!!

this is why the U.S. is not listened to in climate change conversations...blessings to all

They should grow high water consuming crops in Washington state. We got more rain than we know what to do with. If they are looking for more of a desert look, go to Eastern Washington. There's desert all over the place...