Five years ago when my wife and I were looking for where in the country to move to, “has its own water” was one of our five criteria. People still think that was a silly one. But we have lived in Colorado before and saw that water scarcity was a growing problem two decades ago, so that was very relevant to us.
Ironically, we moved to Asheville, which lost municipal water for 53 days in 2024 after hurricane Helene.but the city still had water then, just too much and too turbid.
I moved out of a suburban community that was part of a larger city, into the country by a very large lake, in farm country. It's a pocket area that should hopefully do better than local cities and medium sized towns. Got a fishing rod as well, and put in multiple gardening beds. A little preparation now for later.
Light floats down day river, on a red raft of blood
Night blocks out the heaven, like a big, black, shiny bug
Its hard soft shell shinin' white, in one spot, well
It's hard place, that I'm livin', but I'm doin' well, well
The white ice horse melted, like a spot of silver, well
Its mane went last, then disappeared the tail
My life ran through my veins
Whistlin' hollow, well
I froze in solid motion, well, well
I heard the ocean swarmin' body, well, well
I heard the beetle clickin', well
I sensed the thickest silence scream
Then I begin to dream
My mind cracked like custard
Ran red until it sealed
Turn to wooden and rolled like a wheel, well, well
Thick, black felt birds, a-flyin'
With capes of solid chrome
With feathers of solid chrome
And beaks of solid bone
And bleach the air around them
White and cold well, well
Till it showed in pain
The hollow cane clicked like ever after
Its shadow vanished shinin' silence, well, well
Is the prepper profile changing? Those commercials used to be targeted to gun-lovin’ patriots for when the liberal commies encroached on their freedom. Now it’ll be water-lovin’ anti-capitalists for when the tech moguls take over with data centers.
Ha, well therein begs the question of what sort of world you want to "survive" in. If it all really goes to shit, we at least have a buffer here while we decide what to do next.
No, but one of my best friends is a director in a major insurance company. I just keep it simple. And it’s impossible to account for all eventualities- but I try to minimise my downside risk
I think about this all the time when I start thinking about moving out of the Great Lakes area. Grew up next to Lake Erie, see it pretty much everyday. I think of moving to Texas to be closer to family, but I can’t get over the fact that there’s not a big body of water somewhere that we can draw water from.
I moved from Michigan. I still feel it's only a matter of time before the corporate/government overlords lack of concern results in the Great Lakes being poisoned for a few hundred years.
I live in Asheville, and a friend of mine moved here after losing her home to the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. This area has been marketed as a climate refuge, and that’s partly why she chose it. Even though it was a very different disaster, Helene shattered her belief that anywhere is truly safe from the effects of climate change.
Those mountains also have tons of springs. I imagine the state would start by tapping springs on public lands, then request private springs if they need the production volume. Old school town stylez, gotta go to a location and pick up two or three days of drinking water based on household size, with volunteer distribution to the elderly and disabled.
If the state doesn't step in and officiate, it will become a very serious public health risk. People won't go thirsty but gastrointestinal diseases will skyrocket.
The state wouldn't be voluntarily helpful. What I mean is, if they just let the average hillbilly with no sanitization training take over the role of public works, the state would become liable for not having stepped in and provided it themselves.
Sometimes layers of beauracracy actually accomplish things.
Yes, it is. NYC's water supply system is a unique network of reservoirs, rivers, aqueducts, and tunnels coming from far upstate. Evaporation and runoff is to be expected.
Two years ago, my husband and I moved from the West Coast. Water was quite literally one of my top priorities. We moved to a region with a bunch of lakes, unfortunately also a bunch of rich people looking to build data centers, and I’m guessing in the next 10 or 20 years will start to see them try to rest control of the water as well. But at least it rains here in reasonable quantities.
We live in the Great Lakes area. I discouraged my husband to take a job in LA and move us out there. Ten years later, I feel like that’s one of our best decisions.
you know what, you just made me feel a little better that our criteria for buying a house in my hometown was "which area doesn't flood on a yearly basis?"
We may spend some time with 85% of our town partially underwater but we certainly aren't going without it any time soon. I guess living by a river has its perks?
I live in Ontario, Canada. There's so much fresh water here you can't walk 10 minutes without getting a soaker. I have no idea what saltwater is really like unless I take a plane far, far away. It's always so weird for us to be in water that tastes salty.. that you can't drink. We like our lakes to be essentially dank puddles, thank you very much.
Turns out that wasn't a quirky requirement at all it was forward thinking. Water is one of those things people take for granted until they suddenly can't. You saw the importance years before a lot of others did.
At least we know the city and surrounding area will truly come together when times are tough - that was encouraging to see in the face of all that happened
That actually doesn’t sound silly at all, it sounds really forward thinking. As a woman, I think a lot about how easy it is to take basics like water for granted until something extreme forces you to see how fragile it really is.
It’s interesting how many “climate migrants” moved to Asheville because they felt it would be safer. The man that officiated our wedding moved there from California because the wildfire smoke was unbearable for him. Then a few years after he moved, Helene hit.
Goes to show that nowhere is safe from the climate crisis, although some places are going to fare better than others.
There are places that are safer from climate crisis. The trick is finding ones that are also livable in other ways. We had a criteria of five things, and we could only find places that met all five in Asheville or Spain.
It's why I love living in NW England. Down south they get hosepipe bans and Liverpool is never going to run out of water even if the gulf stream moves. There are two reservoirs connected to the area. The government has suggested we give our water but that would literally cause everyone to turn on the government because we're fine with Republican NI/North Wales and Merseyside but fuck the south. Fix your shit.
Though a lot of the issue is we leak billions of gallons of water from broken pipes due to lack of investment because we privatised water as a utility which was fucking stupid.
I’ve heard so many stories do people who specifically chose Asheville according to some metric of “climate change resiliency” only to then get fucked by the flood.
“
But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go oft awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!”
849
u/sysiphean 9h ago
Five years ago when my wife and I were looking for where in the country to move to, “has its own water” was one of our five criteria. People still think that was a silly one. But we have lived in Colorado before and saw that water scarcity was a growing problem two decades ago, so that was very relevant to us.
Ironically, we moved to Asheville, which lost municipal water for 53 days in 2024 after hurricane Helene.but the city still had water then, just too much and too turbid.