MEGADROUGHT – HOW THE AMERICAN WEST IS HEADING FOR DISASTER
Scientific data proves that the American west is increasingly threatened by water scarcity. Massive conflicts are emerging – defined by the struggle for our most precious resource.
An investigative journey with renowned NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti on the trail of America’s biggest climate change-induced threat: the megadrought. We have the exclusive opportunity to accompany one of the world’s most respected hydrologists on his journey through the western states of the US. Famiglietti has spent the past 20 years analysing satellite data for NASA's GRACE mission, which prove this region has lost water at an alarming rate. He shows us what this means for communities, the environment and the economy. The reservoirs that supply major cities in the western states have reached record low levels, and some towns and cities already rely on supplies from water tanks. The people there are struggling to survive, while elsewhere private agricultural enterprises or industrial sites in the middle of the desert still treat water resources unsparingly. Conflicts of biblical proportions are emerging, with devastating consequences for flora and fauna – and prospects of a future that will be shaped by the struggle for our most precious resource unless we learn to use it sustainably.