A Midwest Oasis in a Drying World
In Illinois we may curse our taxes, bemoan our political leaders, and at times all promise to move West. One thing we will likely always have relative to anywhere else in the USA outside the Great Lakes area is freshwater. And today that is not trivial. It may actually be the singular issue determining economic winners and losers in the future. And the North Shore of Chicago is in an enviable situation, nationally and even globally.
States that rely on the Colorado River for their water, as do Arizona, Colorado. Utah and California already know this body of water is looking as dependable these days as the Colorado’s Rockies playoff hopes. But it is no joke – this aquatic lifeline supplies seven states in the US and two in Mexico. The water division decided up in 1922 by the Colorado River Agreement is now being assaulted by reality. Just this year a drastic new plan to save the Colorado River basin as reported by Realtor.com will cause big water cuts for states dependent on it for their water supply. Some small towns are reportedly going to have their supplies cut by as much as 80% and are predicted to run dry this summer.
If you are building residential developments in Phoenix, and your plan is to use ground water, you are probably not going to get a permit today. This is the situation in many South Western Metro areas.
This is a hugely complex subject but at heart it is simple enough. Climate change will simply mean that lifestyles and population growths in the West and Southwest of the United States are going to be forced to adapt to this reality. And since domestic households only use about 5% of the water and if they became more efficient they could use half of that, household water use will not be the defining issue. The problem is agriculture, industry and now most ominously, AI Data Centers.The political fistfights around sharing a dwindling resource are not pretty. All of this points to a more challenging economic outlook for these regions. We all hope technology and conservation will save the day but this will be very costly regardless and this will surely hit tax bills and lifestyle.
Meanwhile in the Great Lakes Region, having 20% of the world’s fresh water, we face none of these life-or-death issues with our housing markets and water supply living as we do under the auspices of The North Shore Water Reclamation District, a body most people have never heard of. It means that we get our water from Lake Michigan and we are not competing with farmers with grandfathered rights or even heavy industry. In short, we will not have to worry about permits to build due to future water availability. It is unlikely we will ever have this issue, even if water costs may increase.
The benign climate and economic boost from this large body of fresh water is something that everyone should think about if they are planning for a decade out. Because the future is arriving faster than most people thought it would. We will still be taking those long showers and enjoying green gardens while Californians are banned from automatically getting a glass of water in a restaurant. It's good to live in the North Shore.
