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East has all the water. Should have more people. Many people in SoCal, and Phx came from the east. They will realize its not that sustainable, and move back east.
East has all the water. Should have more people. Many people in SoCal, and Phx came from the east. They will realize its not that sustainable, and move back east.
I moved from New Jersey to New Mexico almost 18 years ago. I would have to go back kicking and screaming. Quality of life overall is much better here than in New Jersey for my standard.
What kept people from settling out west in the past? 3 things, historical settlement patterns, distance, and cold weather.
The west was always catching up since US population first grew in the east. The area that was the epicenter in 1880, the Northeast, is now the slowest growing region in the US, cause it's overpopulated on the seaboard and overfarmed (not sexy) in the great lakes area.
Distance is the real limiter on the west. There was too much open, hard to develop space between settlements for things outside of the major hubs to take off. Jobs, shopping, and amenities kept people clustered. THAT has changed though now. Jobs are increasingly untethered and there's a small town boom across the entire US. There's SO many cool spots out west and only a handful of them really got populated. Everything North of San Francisco from the Cascades west is grossly underpopulated.
And what's keeping people out of the land east of the Cascades / Sierras? Cold weather. People HATE the cold and snow, especially immigrants from tropical places. Global warming should help that out, both on the west side of the US and the East. People keep moving south faster than the earth can warm up their former northern home though.
Water is a non issue. There's plenty to go around, agriculture will reshuffle back eastwards some and people will keep migrating west. And it's really only an problem for the SW, the Northwest, WY, UT, ID, MT, OR, and WA are fine on water. People forget that climate change means increased precipitation as well, there may be some droughts but on whole the west half (and eastern half) of the US is bound to get wetter.
The southeast really doesn't have as much water as it thinks. Without lakes, groundwater, and big rivers, rainfall really doesn't do that much. Atlanta had to take Alabama watersheds into the Chattahoochee in a 2020 case or else it would would have hit the same water issues the west has. Southern Florida is entirely screwed for water.
Water is a huge issue and means the East will always retain the majority of the population. The current growth out West is completely unsustainable. Lake Powell is the canary in the coal mine. The aquifers all across the Great Plains and elsewhere out west are running low. Any US population increase is going to have to live East of the Mississippi.
The one lingering question for me is, how is it decided with any finality that desert terrain is "undevelopable", what with aqueducts, canals etc. If Phoenix can be a 5 million metro, what is stopping some of the intermountain cities?
Well, you need water for one thing. And as we're clearly witnessing now, there isn't enough water for aqueducts to supply the needs of the population and ag development that's already there. What are you gonna do, pipe it all the way in from the Mississippi River?
Y'all are clueless on water. Look on google maps / earth. Everywhere you see a irrigated hay field out west is where water is literally sprayed away and could be used in a better manner.
There's a reason New Mexico isn't growing. i live here. The state is not business friendly, unlike Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. West Texas is part of Texas, and El Paso neighbors where I live. That city is growing in leaps and bounds.
Nothing has really changed in New Mexico from before the 2010s when were growing like gangbusters. It's something else that caused that pause in growth. But New Mexico is beginning to grow at a good rate again. It's been making various lists indicating growth. Albuquerque is developing like crazy right now. So many apartments, houses and new commercial properties are being built right now, and it's still not enough to keep up with the demand.
Well, you need water for one thing. And as we're clearly witnessing now, there isn't enough water for aqueducts to supply the needs of the population and ag development that's already there. What are you gonna do, pipe it all the way in from the Mississippi River?
New York City had to construct multiple remote aqueducts to fuel their city (I believe they are in an extended drought right now).
I don't see what meaningful advantage the east has with water.
New York City had to construct multiple remote aqueducts to fuel their city (I believe they are in an extended drought right now).
I don't see what meaningful advantage the east has with water.
NYC also has a shade under 9 million people and uses 1 billion gallons of water per day. No river system outside the Amazon could support a city they size.
1/5th of the global liquid fresh water is located in the 5 Great Lakes and that's not even including the river/drainage systems. Until we can desalinize salt water in our home kitchen... you'd be silly to say the Eastern US doesn't have a inherent water advantage over the west.
New York City had to construct multiple remote aqueducts to fuel their city (I believe they are in an extended drought right now).
I don't see what meaningful advantage the east has with water.
Perhaps the most difficult meaningful advantage to ignore is there's so much water out east it literally falls from the sky. This keeps lots of watersheds flowing which in turn provide plenty of water to thirsty people and crops and to hot things that need cooling -- which happens to be easier to do when it's not a hundred and thirty-twelve degrees all the time. There's also this massive gigantic repository of fresh water you might have heard of too called the Great Lakes. That helps out a little too.
Last edited by Bitey; 09-24-2022 at 09:02 PM..
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