Water: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The fact a leader of a state can go on TV and ask the entire state to pray a problem away so he doesn't have to do his job is terrifying.

Coming from a country which recently went through a 7 year drought, I can wholeheartedly say that the only way to survive is smart planning and very severe water restrictions. Watching a first world nation fail at such basic survival measures gives me second hand embarrassment.

Once again, Brian Cox delivers an authentic performance, capturing the spirit and intent of the character he portrays.
Bravo, sir!

My dad is a groundwater microbiologist and my family has lived in Colorado for generations. My dad said that when he was a kid it never got too hot even in the summer. Flash forwards thirty years and my parent's house IN TOWN almost burned down twice in the span of three months. Our neighbors lost everything including pets to the fires and my parents are seeing their house and moving to a less burnable area. Last year we didn't get our first snow until January (the day after the devastating fire). And as a child through adulthood I went to summer camp in the Rockies and worked as a counselor, only to evacuate the camp three years in a row due to fires. Colorado is in trouble. And as far as states go it's probably one of the luckier ones for water. We are all in trouble.

As a Colorado resident, the changes I’ve observed during my lifetime scare me for anyone alive in the next 50-100 years. The steady increase in wildfires across the West are devastating to wildlife and human settlements. The wildfire that broke out east of Boulder and into Broomfield displaced hundreds on families. Two years ago when nearly the entire Front Range was aflame turned the sky orange for weeks. Ash rained down daily. We are becoming the dystopian, apocalyptic novels and movies we consume in mass.

My family’s well in AZ went dry in 1996 and I grew up like those folks did. Showered at friend’s or in the school locker rooms when we could, did laundry at laundromats, flushed toilets with buckets of already used water. House never felt clean and it was a constant source of stress. When i moved to the city and could flush my toilet with the handle instead of a bucket I literally cried.

You know, I'm gonna just thank John Oliver and HBO for putting his main content for free on YT. I'm an HBOMax subscriber so they already have my money. They are putting out important info for free.

A few years ago I rented a house in Phoenix, AZ- all the homes in the neighborhood had large lawns with grass. In the summer, we were watering the lawn a good 30 min/day to keep it from burning. The HOA sent angry letters if we had burned spots on the lawn, which happened even with the watering schedule because it’s the desert! It was so stupid and such a colossal waste of water. I was so happy to move and not be a part of it anymore.

I live in Western Australia and here there is a groundwater replenishment scheme that I don't think many people know about. Purified wastewater is pumped underground and will get back to aquifers in about 30 years. We also have desalination plants off the coast because rainfall is increasingly not enough to supply the city of Perth

I'm European and seeing that a state head in the USA apparently thinks it's a reasonable solution to pray for rain in the 21st century is just so mind-blowing, I don't know if I'm more shocked or scared. Someone in a charge that high should at least believe in science or be able to gather a team of experts who can explain the topic to him and help find a solution.... Right?! 😳😳

For anyone interested in water, water conservation, and how the American west became a sprawling metropolitan area in a desert, Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert" is a must read

What I find astounding and morally reprehensible is how the rightful Indigenous American ownership of water is never mentioned, ever, by literally ANYONE.

Lived in Vegas as a kid. Every museum and science field trip stressed the importance of water conservation and how dire the situation was for the future of the city and the southwest as a whole. Decades later, its in the exact place everyone said it would be. Its almost at the point where the Hoover Dam won't be able to provide any power. I am hoping these cities that keep approving golf courses and mega resorts in the desert become the biggest ghost towns in history.

Greywater systems need to be the standard EVERYWHERE. Every shower is enough water to flush your toilet several times over, and in most cases can easily be used for a small laws or gardens if you use the proper soaps.

Living in an RV with no running water and now being homeless and staying in a campsite I can really see how terrible the situation is. Just getting water for my cat Is difficult.

John you are a true hero IMO. Thank you for being one of the only two news show with the balls to tell us the truth.

Great segment. I'm a desert girl, so I know there's individual responsibility part to this. I have always advocated cities and businesses needed to cut their water usage first. There's no need for business parks to have fields of grass or huge water structures. But you did miss how corporations are mishandling their water. There's also the issue in the courts of corporations buying land around the Colorado just for the river rights and then claiming those water rights go for a neighborhood hundreds of miles away.

I find it unsurprising that most states would rather attempt entirely ridiculous measures rather than sensibly cut back on their water use.

John Oliver is getting closer and closer to just having " LIFE " as a topic.

I've worked at drinking water plants for 15 years. I can tell you with 100% certainty is you can't create water (supply) so you have to reduce demand. I currently work at a plant that was a "Hail Mary" for a city that was desperate for fresh water. They built the plant to take salt water from a river that was known for being a sewer for the industrial plants (now gone) for decades. We take that water, desalinate and process it, and send it to that city. Prior to completion of plant construction they decided to also implement conservation methods. It worked so well they actually don't need us now. The biggest conservation method? ELIMINATE AUTOMATIC WATERING OF LAWNS/IRRIGATION.

When I was younger living in southern California even as a little girl I felt the dire situation we were in. I remember I would constantly say "why are they building new homes? Where will they get water for their showers? How does this make any sense?" I used to NEVER pour out the last bit of icky water that had been sitting in my cup and collecting dust. I would give it to a plant or animal.

"All faiths....or one of the many wrong ones!" As a Utah resident, this was an amazingly accurate and insightful set of comments by Oliver.

Thank you for covering this issue, John. For most Americans the drought is a fleeting concern. For those of us who live in Colorado & surrounding states, it's a catastrophe we see in the making every day. Between fires and lack of water, the nation is losing critical resources. It infuriates me to see Lake Powell so low, yet golf courses in Page AZ, St George UT, and Las Vegas are everywhere with sprinklers on twice a day. Water is running below acceptable levels in the Colorado River in spite of a good snowfall this past winter. Fortunately the San Luis Valley (the Rio Grande), and rivers in southwest corner of Colorado (feeders to the Colorado) are running high thanks to rainfall. But it's literally a drop in the bucket.

There should be a spin-off series giving updates on each of these fantastic stories!

As someone who lives in Utah, John going on about the state and our governor was completely earned. Our state's leaders rarely do anything that makes sense or actually helps.

I live in Monterrey, Mexico and the four dams that surround the city are in a crucial state. The state government started initiated water cuts in residential areas, and we only have water from 4am-10am. The craiglist guy isn’t a far reality, unfortunately. Everyone has began installing water tanks in their homes, and we have began to see a decrease in usage. I’m really glad that I’m beginning to see more reports on this because you don’t start appreciating water until you start collecting water in a tank for your daily shower :(

Wow. Whenever I heard about water shortages and droughts, I was under the impression it was resulting from climate change. But from the sounds of it in this video, a lot of it (perhaps not all) is due to infrastructure and water usage issues.

So I was just listening to an NPR piece yesterday about how some parts of Arizona aren't worried because they've been pumping their surplus allocation into the ground to create artificial groundwater reservoirs. This was an incredibly smart thing to do of course, however at one point it came out that they estimated that they had a 5 year supply stored away and I was like, "Um, you guys realize that we're in the midst of a 20-odd year megadrought, right? You think 5 years is enough? Are you sure you don't need to be worried?"

I work for a utility company in the Southwest and I can tell a HUGE problem that is not being talked about. The expansion of the urban areas that outstrip the available resources has created a market where thousands of people are buying homes they can't afford and once they move in, can't afford the utility cost, especially the water costs. This is resulting in many of those same thousands selling their homes at a loss and greedy real-estate companies snapping up thousands of home that they flip and resell and the cycle repeats. Every day I see people who can't afford to live in the homes they bought. Real estate companies are buying homes to turn them into rental properties but the renters can't afford the costs either. I can't begin to tell you how many landlords I've spoken to that call in to stop services at renters homes because they can't afford to pay for it. I see a huge bubble forming in the housing market that is going to implode dangerously and a lot of people are going to lose their homes just because the landlords can't afford to pay the mortgage.

I feel like the existence of a surf lagoon in the middle of the desert may be the single largest middle finger mankind has ever given to nature. Which *sounds* cool until you remember Nature doesn't have a sense of humor about that sort of thing.

Hey Coloradan here! I did a water usage project in like the 4th grade (probably 14 years ago) and discovered a lot of of content John just presented on - including that Colorado snowmelt is the sole watershed for like 7 states and 4-5 territories of Mexico and that we allocate way more than we actually have. Even an 11 year old saw the writing on the wall that the western states were in massive trouble - I was traumatized and avoided taking baths for years and begged my parents to get rid of the lawn! I could never figure out why my teachers weren’t as surprised or alarmed as I was. Just sayin, If an elementary school student understands that the only way to solve this problem is to actually reduce water usage along the watershed, so should our elected officials!!

The only thing this segment missed out on was a chance to talk about how people would be fined or arrested for just collecting rain water and converting it to drinking water.

Thank you John for expressing some "uncommon sense", as apperntly the American version of common sense is considered stupidity in the rest of the world... IF THERE CAN BE NO RESOLUTION THERE MUST BE REVOLUTION

The fact that Vegas can have huge water shows and still be beneficial on their water supply should really be a wakeup call that we can actively do something to help the situation if we really tried, without having to lose all of the luxuries we once had. Sure some things have to go and change, but if we actively make these changes there are many things we can keep that we wont be able to if we dont act fast.

Thank you for bringing this issue up to the mainstream media. The water wars have been going on forever, and it is about time someone shines a light on it. Thank you, John!

I would love an episode on meat consumption, as it seems relevant to climate change, water conservation, and pathogen risk. It's also an area where the status quo of how people eat, still holds strong in a lot of people's minds. But if we were opened alteration society actually could pressure corporations into demonstrating that they are operating more sustainably, and shifting to making sustainable options more accessible

I live in Tucson, Arizona and my entire life we learned about water conservation. We even had people come to our school to teach us how we can conserve water because we are always in a drought. Our landscaping is just rocks and cactus. But just 2 hours north in Phoenix every house has lawns, all the neighborhoods have lakes and it just makes me feel sick. I grew up knowing when the best time to water plants is so the water doesn't evaporate and then I see people who are acting like we dont only get 9 inches of rain each year. This is such a serious problem and it feels like no one is taking it seriously.

I live in Colorado, and this past 6 months they've started construction of THREE new car washes within 2 miles of my house. We already have a ton scattered around town, so there's not a demand. It's insane, irresponsible, and I'm pissed. My own neighborhood's HOA uses so much water there's practically a river in the gutter every other day. I don't even know what I can do to help at this point :(

In Australia we brought in restrictions and built a desalination plant. The Desal plant has not been switched on yet....but we will be glad when the next drought happens, and so will anybody who remembers the last one

I've read that Saudi Arabia has numerous desalination plants, removing the salt from ocean water. The states that border the ocean should be investing in that technology. However, that would mostly be California and perhaps Oregon. Unless Arizona wants to build the desalination plant in the gulf of California and pipe it across part of Mexico, good luck with that. Texas could do the same thing, they are on the gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean. Texas is rather dry lately also, so I've heard.

One of the most absurd things being contemplated in Utah is piping water from the Pacific Ocean to the Great Salt Lake (which is about half the surface area in the last few decades).

We need a part 2 to this now that it’s been a few months.

I lived in Vegas when they started the “No lawns” and I was surprised how little people argued against it. I’m not saying some people weren’t upset but surprisingly it was pretty much a “that makes sense” moment. Also they were going around and offering to “buy” peoples lawns and replace them with decorative gravel. I took them up on that offer. Saved a ton of money on no longer caring for a lawn

I need to add here that the problem doesn't end at reduced water usage. Rain is dependent on many things and one of the most important ones missing in this video is forests.
Forests cool warm rain by providing multiple impact areas for water droplets. Each leaf a droplet hits cools down the water significantly. By the time the water reaches the ground, it is cool enough to sleep into the ground more easily, rather than running off or evaporating. This is because H2O molecules are denser when cold and further apart when warm. Denser particles of water can slip through smaller gaps in the soil than if it were warm, allowing more to remain in the area where it fell.
There is also a huge mulch layer in forests that provides a surface area large enough to hold water from even the most intense downpours.
The water then remains in the forest until there is a significant difference between the temperature inside and outside of the forest. At this point huge amounts of water evaporate into the air and form clouds that carry water further inland. The fewer forests you have, the less chance that rain from the coastal regions makes it inland to where the water is most needed.
Forests are sponges and serve a vital function in the weather system. We are currently deforesting the world in a time of great water usage and heat. It's easy to see why there's a problem here.
Also I should add that plantations do not perform the same function as a dense forest. Neither does other green space. Forests alone are where the magic happens and we need to replant huge areas as soon as possible if we want to even come close to fixing the water issue.

I wish you would do one show on the wildfires and the fact that fires in smaller areas go ignored. And some of them are bigger then those that get shown in the news.

In case you were wondering who was keeping drought records in the southwest during 800 AD, it was the trees 🌳

It would make a hell of a lot more sense to build a pipeline network from the Southeast, where we are getting more rain due to Global Warming, than that dumb-ass Keystone Pipeline to facilitate shipping oil off shore.

Another great episode!!! We need a show like this for every country or at least continent!!!

“Nobody wants to be the one having to deliver bad news… so I guess I’ll just do it” was probably the pitch for this show to HBO

Something that John didn't mention here but is very much worth noting is the value of switching from turf grass lawn and exotic ornamental plants to native xeric landscaping, which naturally uses very little water while creating wildlife and pollinator habitat. An outcome we need to avoid from water scarcity is people deciding not to have any plants and whole cities just getting hardscaped with concrete and asphalt.

I live here in Utah and one of the largest consumers of water in Salt Lake is the University of Utah. They have so many lawns where they should just have rocks or something else

I loved that John had put in the insane idea for a pipeline from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River. I am surprised though that he didn't point out one of the biggest arguments against it: why should the midwest pay for the mismanagement of the southwest's water?

I live in St. George, Utah and he’s 10000% right here. So many people moving here and it’s also becoming a retirement/vacationing town so quickly. So many new plans to build luxury spas, more golf courses, etc.
Residents here are also obsessed with having perfect lawns and perfect grass for some odd reason. So much wasted water.

Thousands… if not millions. You guys are the best, the funniest, the most well researched team of all. Again. Of all. Thank you.

My mom is a geologist and likes to play with water when she’s not playing with rocks. She was in Israel a few years ago and was seated next to a man in charge of the public water systems in Tel Aviv. He was speaking to her of the expansion that was being planned for that area and Mom asked him “where will the water come from?”. He told her that there was plenty of water. She told him that no, she had seen there was not, that the River Jorden was very low. That is when he replied that God would provide, stood up and walked away. Another one bites (mom’s) dust..lol…

When we have droughts in Alabama most municipalities immediately put restrictions on any non essential usage, and this is a temperate climate. We’re full of rivers and lakes, and even if they run low, we aren’t in danger of literally becoming a withered husk. I have actually in my ADD mind spent significant time worrying about people out west and their water. Which really impacts me in no way except that I mean…humans deserve water for themselves and to grow food/raise food, at the least. Lawns and recreation have alternatives.
And of course we screwed the people already here. That’s our brand. A white person “found” this continent and ever since the prior residents have been treated like…I mean is there an accurate way to describe it that isn’t too graphic for a KRclip comment?

The risks of using too much ground water should already be clear from the historical record. Centuries ago, there was a city in the Arabian Desert which was a major trading post. They got their water from an oasis, and when that dried up, they switched to groundwater. One day, the city just vanished in a huge calamity. After that, the survivors scattered and the city was only remembered in legend.
We found that city again, in the 1990s, at the bottom of a giant sinkhole that had opened up and swallowed 90% of the fortified city center. They had used so much groundwater they had hollowed out the land underneath the city and it eventually just caved in.

Thank you HBO for putting all this on KRclip

I live in Chicago and today (May 1st) it was roughly -2°C (factoring in wind chill) with a wintery mix coming down all day. But I live right next to 20% of the fresh water on the entire planet. And THAT is why we live here. Our ancestors decided it was probably a bad idea to live in a desert. Good luck SoCal, Arizona and Nevada!

People really need to be more acquainted with the work of Geoff Lawton and his team on the Greening the Desert project, plus the general work of Bill Mollison or Sepp Holzer. The solutions to retaining water are known.
This message is for landowners and real estate developers and perhaps government officials with authority: please develop your land according to its topography. You can easily build water retention basins (ponds, lakes) along the contour lines or your property/land. Plant appropriate vegetation (pioneer plants amongst others, fruit trees) around the basins so that the roots solidify the soil and make the feature more permanent.
With time, enough rain and water will accumulate and you will have water features on your property/land. You can build roads, houses in the remaining areas. Integrate grey water systems, solar or geothermal power, make your development more resilient. It will be more expansive upfront but will save money in the long run. Use good quality materials that will require less repairs down the line.
Profit can be made in harmony with nature, developing real estate doesnt have to be destructive. People want these alternatives.

Not just a surfing lagoon in the California desert, it's a surfing lagoon in the desert for people who 100% could afford both the time and cost of just going to the goddamned beach, which is literally less than 90 minutes away!

I live in Quebec, Canada. And people here keep telling me how great it is to have such good diplomatic relations with the US.
And I keep reminding them that you guys will eventually run out of water, that we are the closest (and biggest) source of fresh water around, and that our army is basically children dressed in green-ish clothing with pea-shooters.
So yeah, I'll enjoy the last couple of peace that we have on this continent!
And the 2 or 3 rainstorms we have each week right now.
Cheers!

As a onetime Arizona resident it is unbelievable to me that things haven't changed. All these problems were ocurring over 20 years ago. I'm glad a government agency is going to force those idiots to conserve water. Also, people and companies who conserve should be rewarded, not penalized.

Why are these horrendous examples of water mismanagement not being addressed?

Thank you for talking about the water crisis.

A Mississippi-Arizona waterworks project would be interesting. If for no other reason than seeing someone build the aqueduct tunnels and pumping stations to get the water through and over the Rockies and up two kilometers from the plain to the plateau.

I love this show it’s eternally depressing but they’re real topics and he’s funny about such sad serious things

This situation is called "The Tragedy of the Commons", where multiple agents use a common resource. The usage benefit is private (I use water for my own benefit), but the consequences and accountability for eventual scarcity are not. I've just finished reading "Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows, and it's a must-read for anyone who thinks that mass prayers are not the way out of a bad situation.

Let's not forget that Michael Burry, the investor who was genius in shorting the collapse of the housing market in 2008, feels that water is the next big commodity.

#JohnOliver is a god among men.
Thanks John.... Never stop doing what you are doing

It would be nice to also watch a video about places which encounter a lot of flooding and rain yet still have a problem with water shortage

I hope the record snowfall in the mountains this past winter has helped this dire situation.

Politicians could literally be told that what they’re doing would cause the earth to explode and they’d still complain about “their right to do what they want” and “their standard of living”

May we please get a show on Tipping? I feel like with the economy influx, I'm noticing more and more places forcing tipping into everyday purchases. Its hard to tell how much to tip, when to not tip, and how we can help employers maybe offer better pay (if that is what its compensating for in some cases).

The scene of God roasting people was one of the best parts of the show IMO

As someone who grew up with private source spring water it seems very evident to me how ground water and river water are linked.

I live in St. George and he's absolutely right that we waste water without a second thought because there are no conservation laws and water is so cheap (but it did rise a few cents per gallon this year).

I live in Vegas, and it drives me NUTS that the SNWD person didn't think to talk about what is the only acceptable answer to, "Isn't irresponsible to let more people move here?" Oliver brings it up: while the population of the valley has increased, our water usage has gone down. Not just per capita, but overall. Luckily for us, we sit upriver of Lake Mead, so when water stops flowing over the dam, to the users of most of the water, we'll be fine.

My geology professor in college was from Alabama. He started the first class by saying in a heavy southern drawl, "that's right, I am that rarest of birds, a redneck with a PhD". One subject John didn't cover in this was contamination of groundwater by human waste, a subject my prof went into at length. I remember the whole lesson years later, possibly because one of the funniest phrases to hear in a Southern accent is "poo water".

John, you're doing an excellent job of informing the public...
Unfortunately, you're living in the US, so nothing is going to be done.
In fact, politicians will do everything in their power to make it worse.
To be fair, the American people won't help much either.

Gov: spends millions on a computer simulation to allocate water.
..."add magic water. Do it."
Also his Bjork impression..👌

The broken water cycle should be taught in schools. I cannot count how many adults have insisted that potable water supply is unlimited because rain happens.

Got to say it's always amusing to watch people actually face the consequences of bad decisions and inaction on their own part.

As a citizen of Ventura county, I’m so proud of our ingenuity and passion for solving drought conditions

Poor part of Utah: Well yes, we're in drought, so we won't be turning on your ground water this summer
Rich part (southern): Why yes, you can build another golf course in the middle of the desert next to your brand new pool and unaffordable houses!
It blows my mind to see all these rich people getting a pass to do whatever they want and everyone else gets blamed for it. Imagine if they actually faced consequences *gasp.*

If anyone wants to learn more about water in the western US, I'd suggest reading Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. Somewhat old but still gives a great foundation

Air conditioners pull water out of the air. The huge systems that run the hotels produce lots of it. There needs to be a capture and reuse of this water.

The bridge they showed that was facing subsidence issues has been replaced and actually won an engineering award last year. It's just one of many that are sinking with the subsidence of the San Joaquin Valley due to groundwater pumping. It's going to take a lot of money to fix everything, but IMO it won't happen fast enough.

Western states need to learn from the island of Bermuda. Paint your roof white with special lime paint and collect your own rain water in your basement! Fault Lines on AJ. Loved that show! It covered so many issues that MSM doesn't cover. Thanks John for keep using their clips!

Letting rich strangers dictate how we live never gets old, does it guys?

As a indigenous woman, we have known about this problem for a long time. Even before Glen canyon dam was built. We warned the US government. We’re just ignoring the problem at hand. Like nothing is happening.
Oliver hasn’t even talked about our aquifers that are not drinkable due to uranium mining on the Navajo reservation. As native people, we are not even in the talks about water. A few years ago John McCain tried to pass SB 2109 (Navajo-Hopi Little Colorado River Water Settlement) he came to Navajo trying to negotiate our water with the state of AZ. While the whole state has majority of the Colorado River. Navajo chased John McCain off of the Navajo reservation and his offer. We need water too!

I'm never disappointed when Brian Cox shows up.. 🙏

The Utah governor asking everyone to do a rain dance was just incredible

The fact that the person who prayed to God and the person who portrayed the god had the same last name was comedy gold.

I live in Arizona and it’s a well know fact, that we could completely run out of water within 5 years if the drought continues. Yet no one does anything.

I just read in the news that the heatwave in Europe is so bad that the Rhine River is drying up and the river's bottleneck is at it's lowest level in 15 years.
Also as a Fallout fan I can't help but think if the effect on the Colorado River continue how much that would decrease the value of the river, as well as Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, in the Fallout timeline and whether the NCR and Caesar's Legion would even fight each other for control of those places. But I guess of decades and centuries after the Great War would allow the Colorado and Lake Mead to fill back up with years of rain and melted snow with only a very small number of people using the river for water as people rebuild in the post war Fallout world.

In my country, if a politician asked people to pray in order to solve a problem, the next seat that person would get, would be in a psychiatric ward.
I'm so very grateful for living in a secular country.

The more and more I learn about current events and how we've all screwed ourselves over for generations, the more I'm convinced America IS the Bad Place, or at least we are in some form of dystopian fiction that was passed over for The Hunger Games because of how poorly it was written.

The end is the funniest thing I've ever seen on LWT. Fantastic. I want a feature film with god! What a great performance

I hope very intelligent people are working on using desalted ocean water instead of the River. If it gets to the point we are drastically affecting the ocean, we just use too much. Let the river go back to what it was before we started to drain it.