Where will climate change refugees go? (transplants, insurance, houses)

[Hollytree]

With the long drought in California and the Colorado drying up, where do you think climate change refugees within the US will go? Katrina refugees resettled all over with large groups going to the Houston area. Californians have been moving to states like Colorado, Utah, Wyoming. Do you think these destinations will change? What do you think the migration patterns will look like?

It's happened to us before, specifically the dust bowl migrations to, ironically, California.

The Colorado River Runs Dry | Science | Smithsonian

[NorCal Dude]

Geologists have noted that california has had droughts that have lasted a hundred years.

The thing with ca, is most of the water is diverted to farmland, not cities.

So you would have a rapid desertification in the central vally as water gets diverted to cities. People in the valley would go back to mexico, or to the cities.

You would probably see a canal from the pac nw into ca, not mass migration.

[belmont22]

They're gonna move up to Oregon and Washington of course.

[Prickly Pear]

If the Colorado River runs "dry", we would lose a significant population not only in Southern California, but in all of Arizona (most of us get our water from this river), and Las Vegas. Basically, the entire Southwest would be deserted. Who knows where we would end up. I think a lot of Arizonans would move to Texas (similar climate, better economy, somewhat similar politically). Californians tend to go wherever they feel like, so probably the closest state not affected by a water issue (I'm guessing Oregon and Washington).

I know I've said this before on this website, but the SW can't live like everywhere else in this country. Arizona can't afford to have hundreds of golf courses and thousands of pools. We are too arid. Transplants come here and expect to still be able to live like somewhere else with huge grass yards and unnatural trees. We live in a DESERT. Live like you are in a DESERT. Otherwise, go somewhere else. There are other places just as hot who can grow grass better if that's so necessary.

I think it would be better if we replaced our golf courses and yards with fake grass. Favor salt water pools over fresh water. That would do so much, just fixing those two things. Granted, we could save more of the Colorado River if SoCal also started to desalinate water from the Pacific, like Perth is doing from that article.

[Dawn.Davenport]

This is silly. We have the technology to convert ocean water to fresh water. It's call desalinization. Though pricey, they've been doing it in places like Saudi Arabia and Dubai for years. Worse case scenario, water bills will be expensive and people in SoCal will resort to desert landscaping rather than lawns. But the big California cities aren't going anywhere.

Now Miami...that's another story.

[Hollytree]

True re desalinization. These are issues that have been known about for decades. But what states are building the plants- the plants that should have happened decades ago?

Seems like the the fresh water needs better distribution and at the same time, coastal areas will get inundated with seawater and will also have to move elsewhere. Exactly what is delaying the flood insurance increase by 4 years going to do? Most people can't afford to raise their houses. Florida's sinkhole issues will continue as water is pumped out for agriculture.

PS many parts of Texas have major water issues.

[Hollytree]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

You would probably see a canal from the pac nw into ca, not mass migration.

Wonder how long this would take and where the $$$ would come from? As we speak, towns in Ca are just talking about trucking in water.

[2e1m5a]

Originally Posted by :-D

If the Colorado River runs "dry", we would lose a significant population not only in Southern California, but in all of Arizona (most of us get our water from this river), and Las Vegas. Basically, the entire Southwest would be deserted. Who knows where we would end up. I think a lot of Arizonans would move to Texas (similar climate, better economy, somewhat similar politically). Californians tend to go wherever they feel like, so probably the closest state not affected by a water issue (I'm guessing Oregon and Washington).

I know I've said this before on this website, but the SW can't live like everywhere else in this country. Arizona can't afford to have hundreds of golf courses and thousands of pools. We are too arid. Transplants come here and expect to still be able to live like somewhere else with huge grass yards and unnatural trees. We live in a DESERT. Live like you are in a DESERT. Otherwise, go somewhere else. There are other places just as hot who can grow grass better if that's so necessary.

I think it would be better if we replaced our golf courses and yards with fake grass. Favor salt water pools over fresh water. That would do so much, just fixing those two things. Granted, we could save more of the Colorado River if SoCal also started to desalinate water from the Pacific, like Perth is doing from that article.

Great post! Everyone in the country could learn a thing or two about conserving water though.

[michigan83]

If you are eyeballing those giant blue things on the map that surround Michigan... we are secretly building an army that will be handling all requests.

[eschaton]

While mega-projects diverting water from elsewhere (or desalinization) could be done, they'd undoubtedly up the local cost-of-living. Not just because the utility bills are higher, but because new state taxes would probably be needed in order to pay for the massive expansion of water infrastructure. This isn't even considering the political concerns - getting water across state lines in the U.S. is not an easy matter. Ultimately it may be cheaper to relocate a large number of people and demolish the existing infrastructure rather than engaging in continually more costly patches.