  
The water supply issue is one of literal sustainability:
"There are substitutes for oil, but there are no substitutes for water,"
Lester Brown, President and Founder of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based independent environmental research organization.
Water shortages are rapidly becoming a problem today. In the US we are fortunate enough to have an excellent water supply system across most of the country. But most of us never consider the possiblity that these water supplies -- and ultimately their "fossil aquifers," can one day run dry. Maybe one day soon... As population grows, demands on water supplies increase exponentially, and Americans move closer to devastating water shortages. The biggest problem? Once these "fossil aquifers" are dry, they need thousands, even tens of thousands of years to recharge. Most people can't wait that long.
And what else?
Ultimately, water shortages mean food shortages..
FROM:
FALLING WATER TABLES AND RISING TEMPERATURES LIKELY TO RAISE WORLD FOOD
PRICES
By Lester R. Brown
http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Out/index.htm
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