The Rio Grande has no excess water left to give, so border cities are looking at desalination.
“The Rio Grande is one of the most stressed river basins in the world and water use is already at its limit,” said Casey Walsh, a water specialist.
El Paso, some experts say, could run out of water by 20 10. Think about that, a major city with no water. So, El Paso has built an innovative inland desalination plant that processes brackish ground water into 25 millions gallons per day of drinking water while Mexico may channel the river into pipes to prevent loss from seepage and evaporation.
California might want to do this too, as the all-important California Aqueduct flows through desert areas in open channels where water loss must be substantial.
Will technology be able to provide water fixes for increasingly drought-stricken areas? The inescapable fact is that, for many areas, there is too little water and too many people.