Climate change -- some say man-made -- has resulted in significant water shortages in western states. California's problems have been in the news recently, and now similar is occurring along the Rio Grande. (Link below.) How will this growing story impact the 2016 presidential election?

 

Drought shrivels Rio Grande, altering a region - Houston Chronicle

Yet Las Vegas keeps their fountains on and pools filled. Got it.

Build an east west Keystone like pipeline for water. I think we can start piping Kentucky's overage to Cali. Call it 'Sumpstone pipeline'.

Build an east west Keystone like pipeline for water. I think we can start piping Kentucky's overage to Cali. Call it 'Sumpstone pipeline'.

Some would argue that water pipelines make more sense than oil pipelines right now.

 

Will this be a campaign issue that hamstrings Republicans? Quite possibly.

This is definitely a problem, but I try to find a positive point of view for it (and this may be the Republican view; all my education on this issue is from a college professor).

 

But this should be left to a private business to figure out. Or the government should hire a private business to do it. Someone will figure it out, and hopefully the building of a pipe and maintenance of it will create jobs. Just a thought.

Non issue in the upcoming election, not something that effects enough people. Yet.

California's gonna vote D anyway.

Non issue in the upcoming election, not something that effects enough people. Yet.

You might well be right. Still, if one of the GOP candidates could outline a sensible course of action -- heck, even just show concern for this problem and pledge to do A, B, C if elected -- that might be enough to win some of the western states' primaries. This doesn't have to be only on the Dems' radar screen, but I suspect that's how it will end up.

Interesting fact: The Ohio River (981 miles) is only about half as long as the at-risk Rio Grande (1,896 miles). The Colorado River is 1,450 miles long and the Sacramento River is 447 miles long. (The Licking River is 303 miles long.)

You might well be right. Still, if one of the GOP candidates could outline a sensible course of action -- heck, even just show concern for this problem and pledge to do A, B, C if elected -- that might be enough to win some of the western states' primaries. This doesn't have to be only on the Dems' radar screen, but I suspect that's how it will end up.

 

What plans have those democrats put forward to get water to CA?

What plans have those democrats put forward to get water to CA?

 

More anti gun laws.

This is quickly getting bad and will become a regional disaster soon and probably cause some serious issues.

 

But - never let a good crisis go to (political) waste.

What plans have those democrats put forward to get water to CA?

At this stage, we're talking conservation and regulation, of course, and praying for rain. Hopefully, California has moved beyond the late '70s when I flew in to Vandenberg AFB on a work assignment and stayed at a nearby motel. Water was rationed, but not as one would think -- couldn't get a glass of water when eating out at a restaurant, but no time limit was imposed on motel showers.

Had an MBA class in 1984 with a guest speaker one time who discussed water shortages as being one of the greatest challenges and opportunities for businesses in the coming decades. She was pretty smart.

I saw somewhere that the biggest issue is that up in the mountains in CA they are not getting the snowfall like they did, and it is leading to the shortage.