Unlivable? Probably not. But more expensive? Absolutely.
And once the agricultural economy needs to shut down due to free water not being free anymore, I'll expect ghost cities all over the West, starting with small communities not able to provide enough jobs and not attractive enough to turn into retirement places for people with money.
So far the projections on temperature and rainfall changes are in line with what we see today, but hey, the jury is still out on that. Once we know for sure in roughly 25 years, it might be too late, so I take my chances based on what I know now.
We have 6 acres of arable land a 10 minute drive from Lake Ontario and a well into the Niagara Escarpment into an underground river that I can pull dozens of gallons a minute of water from. As I write this my son is splashing in the pool and spraying the dog with a hose ;-)
The people that move west move to the cities and they are already drastically more expensive than water rich places. The cost of water tripling in LA or SF for residents would be meaningless in the grand scheme of CoL.
Just look at electricity and gas prices in CA for an example of something else people have to pay way more for that realistically doesn’t matter.
Until you’re looking at order of magnitude increases, it will just be noise. And desalination doesn’t even require a 10x increase.
Why do you think that? They are clearly fine with the most expensive option already.
> Coastal areas will be flooded due to increasing sea levels.
No, some coastal areas will have problems with this where the inland has very little elevation gain (e.g. Florida). A house in the South Bay Area alternatively has a lower flood risk than anything near the Great Lakes (just because of the precipitation received on the eastern half of the US).
> Places with little to no rain will experience more extreme fires(happening now).
Some will. It depends on the ecology. Many of these places on fire have fire as part of biological cycle (I.e. the California forests) so if you weren’t ready for that risk you were screwed regardless of climate change.
> I'm sure Midwest will also experience more severe weather but you can make it work, living under water or without water is impossible.
And neither of those things will be feasible outcomes for those of us in the West.
Unless you’re a farmer, living near the Great Lakes for water security is pretty stupid. You have a higher chance of being killed by a tornado or a lightning strike than there being a water shortage that makes the west unlivable.
Israel desalinates ocean water and a fuckload of people still live there.