One of the issues addressed in the Wilson "Bottleneck" article is the scarcity of fresh water on the planet and the almost absolute certainty that the future will place greater demands this resource. This issue is incredibly relevant to all of our lives in the Northwest. It is not an understatement to say the basis of the Washington and Oregon economies is the freshwater of the Columbia River Basin. As we have dammed this river system, it has provided the water to transform the eastern Washington desert into a highly productive agricultural region. The river became navigatable for the shipping industry and barge traffic to transport good to markets. Additionally, and most significantly, these dams provided the cheap electricity that powered the growth of industries like Boeing in this region.
Now, however, as the population in the Northwest continues to grow, the demands on freshwater are starting to overrun the supply. This has sparked tremendous controversy as we as a society consider how to face the growing problem of how to divide this resource. For example as the demands on fresh water for farming and drinking have increased to supply the growing population, less water is available to produce cheap electrical power. As a consequence our electrical bills keep increasing, affecting individual families and industries that depended on cheap power to be competitive. Compounding this problem is Global warming, which could be the reason we are faced with climate changes resulting in less rainfall and decreasing snow-packs in the mountains, the ultimate source of fresh water in the region.
As a further complication, we are not the only residents of the Northwest that are in dire need of fresh water. Salmon need fresh and clean running water in rivers to support viable populations. We as taxpayers are spending billions of dollars to save wild salmon, for the ecological benefit as well as the economic recovery of the fishing industry. This adds another pressure on the freshwater of the region. For this discussion I would like you to consider these types of issues (you can use these examples or find others, there are many!) that will face us as we try to figure out the most efficient ways to allocate this precious resource. MOST IMPORTANTLY, in your post discuss what are the possible solutions to these problems, what progress are we making to solve these problems already, and how might we have to change our lifestyles to adapt to a region with less water.