Water, water everywhere

All of us encounter in one way or another shortages of something we want. Very rarely do we encounter shortages in something we need.
Often times these shortages are as mundane as that TV or iPhone you wanted from Best Buy being out of stock because it's the latest hot item.
Sometimes they are as life disrupting as last year's oil shortages that drove gasoline to over $4/gal. Many readers are blessed to live in the US, the land of plenty, and we really don't consider the possibility of an actual shortage of the basic necessities of life, such as food or water, but in some parts of the world, people live with this threat on a daily basis. The following essay from Zenster, posted at Gates of Vienna, explores the possible consequences of extreme water shortages in some of the world's most volatile regions. His essay gave me pause to consider recent drought driven water shortages in the Western US which, is growing rapidly from massive immigration, both legal and illegal, and the upper limits of sustainable population.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I encourage you to comment.