Permanent Drought?

While not as flashy as some of the subjects here it will be no less political. The Colorado river, the main source of fresh water to the American Southwest, is going dry. California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, with the cities of  Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Phoenix, and some 4 million acres of farmland stretching from California's Imperial Valley to Wyoming's cattle herds depend heavily on the Colorado. 14 years of drought unrivaled in 1,250 years and rising population have depleted a once plentiful resource. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the main reservoirs that supply the southwest are at dangerously low levels. If lake Mead drops just another 100ft the supply pipe that feeds several states will be above the water line. Much has been done but rationing is projected to begin in 2015. No doubt this will become a hot political topic when states begin jockeying for water rights and supplies. There are even predictions of immigration restrictions on new residents to the effected states. The nature of this and other natural "disasters" point out the reactionary nature of our political system and our population. Although we pay our elected officials extremely well monetarily and in social standing to ostensibly make the "big" decisions we do not support them in any long term thinking or planning. Only in an emergency do we look away from the headlines to cry "how could this happen" and "who is to blame". It will be up to the Millennium Generation to deal with this and, I fear, many other long term natural resource crises.