The water crunch only seems bad because everybody is trying to maintain the status quo and it's egregiously wasted on things we dont need to. 25% of the Colorado river is used to just grow alfalfa [0]. We over subsidize corn and soy so much we have to invent uses for it. We dont need corn ethanol in our fuel and we dont need to use the precious water in the West to grow alfalfa for Saudi Arabia [1]
[0] https://coloradosun.com/2024/04/04/research-colorado-river-w...
[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/in-drought-stricken-ar...