<story><title>What happens when a reservoir goes dry</title><url>https://practical.engineering/blog/2022/7/18/what-happens-when-a-reservoir-goes-dry</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>photochemsyn</author><text>The wild political madness involved in the grand project to water the American West is detailed in Marc Reisner&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;Cadillac Desert&amp;quot; (1986), and is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the current situation.  It was written before a climate-related megadrought was really on anyone&amp;#x27;s long-term radar, but it really explains a lot.&lt;p&gt;For example, dams are only part of the water storage picture, there&amp;#x27;s also groundwater, and the water projects often had the goal of protecting groundwater (keeping the water table closer to the surface), but then once they&amp;#x27;d provided water via a dam or aquaduct, the farmers would just expand the areas they were farming and groundwater extraction would often increase as a side effect.&lt;p&gt;Humans really aren&amp;#x27;t that good at long-term planning, is one conclusion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>colinmhayes</author><text>Humans are actually pretty good at long term planning. What we’re not good at is solving externalities. The problem with water usage is that we haven’t created a system that aligns incentives with our goals. Why would any farmer conserve water when they think the farm next door isn’t? Since water is a shared resource if you don’t use it someone else will.</text></comment>
<story><title>What happens when a reservoir goes dry</title><url>https://practical.engineering/blog/2022/7/18/what-happens-when-a-reservoir-goes-dry</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>photochemsyn</author><text>The wild political madness involved in the grand project to water the American West is detailed in Marc Reisner&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;Cadillac Desert&amp;quot; (1986), and is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the current situation.  It was written before a climate-related megadrought was really on anyone&amp;#x27;s long-term radar, but it really explains a lot.&lt;p&gt;For example, dams are only part of the water storage picture, there&amp;#x27;s also groundwater, and the water projects often had the goal of protecting groundwater (keeping the water table closer to the surface), but then once they&amp;#x27;d provided water via a dam or aquaduct, the farmers would just expand the areas they were farming and groundwater extraction would often increase as a side effect.&lt;p&gt;Humans really aren&amp;#x27;t that good at long-term planning, is one conclusion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MooMooMilkParty</author><text>Also worth reading, and considerably more up to date, is Science Be Dammed.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;uapress.arizona.edu&amp;#x2F;book&amp;#x2F;science-be-dammed&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;uapress.arizona.edu&amp;#x2F;book&amp;#x2F;science-be-dammed&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>