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Over the past 100 years, this arid region of Central Washington has undergone a stunning transformation. Engineers and farmers have captured the annual mountain snowmelt and used it to change the sagebrush steppe into an agricultural Eden of tree fruits, mint, hay, and corn​. Rows of green crops adorn a once-parched landscape. Reservoirs funnel water to farms and turn massive turbines that spirit electricity to far-off coastal cities. And Central Washington has become an apple basket for the world. ​Charlie de la Chapelle has lived the story of this water-borne agrarian bounty.

We’re facing a crisis that’s been building for a long time. Even within in the U.S., problems abound. Here in Baltimore, we’ve been dealing with the consequences for over a decade! But fear not! There is a solution. All you have to do is shut down your pipes. You’ll have to drink, cook, and bathe with bottled water. And as an extra precaution, you’ll need to rip up your yard and replace it with gravel. For the good of the world, you understand.

In 2008, when Brice Jones decided to stop irrigating his grapevines, California was in the middle of a drought. Jones, however, wasn’t thinking about water conservation. He was thinking about making California pinot noir that would rival French burgundy.Jones had been in the winemaking business in California for decades and like most wine makers in the state, had never questioned the need to add extra water to his vineyards to compensate for the lack of summer rain.

Rather than call out the hypocrisy of San Francisco’s complaint that losing nearly half of its Tuolumne River water to the State Water Board and environmental activists, let’s see these concerns as a “glass half-full” opportunity. According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s opinion page, the city/county’s public utilities commission is concerned about losing much of its water to a state water grab with strong concerns rippling across the state.