As soon as we wake up from the petroleum hangover water is going to be an even greater issue. The ghosts of the Anasazi are laughing at us from their cliff dwellings for repeating their mistake. Every culture has expanded in population to fully exploit and enjoy the carrying capacity of it's particular environment. And each and every culture manages to push the envelope just enough so that even a minor hiccup bursts that bubble. Radical and expensive fixes are at best bandaids; floating icebergs, distilling seawater with the mothball fleet or diverting other ( allready burdened) riparian systems. Water wars will replace energy wars. Many companies are allready buying control of aquafirs, much to the outrage of indegenous peoples. Perrier is about to get it's people killed in South America for such an act of resource piracy. Sorry, but if you read the classics of our southwest from the Conquistadores to Edward Abbey they all agree; It's a desert and wasn't meant to be home to great cities. I expect in 40 years I'll be riding my horses out to visit Doug in the Vastly reduced Pueblo de los Phoenix. I hope my various water containers will be in better shape than me <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.