This Summer, the American Water Crisis Becomes RealConcerns over water access are poised to consume summer in the US, as crises in Corpus Christ...

This Summer, the American Water Crisis Becomes Real
Concerns over water access are poised to consume summer in the US, as crises in Corpus Christi and across the Colorado River threaten to boil over.
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Photo-Illustration: Darrell Jackson; Getty Images


Two high-profilewater crises, juiced up by climate change and industrial overuse, are building in the US. From a city in Texas staring down a drought emergency to a decades-long political crisis coming to a head for the states that rely on the Colorado River, water issues in the West will take center stage this summer—and experts tell WIRED that other places should take notes and start planning ahead for their own future.

In February, following a winter of record-breaking heat, snowpack in various mountain ranges across the American West reached record lows. March came in even hotter, smashing records in states across the region.