Almost five years ago, the US economy was on the verge of collapse. COVID-19 had crossed our borders, the economy was shutdown (although to a different extent among states) and many observers, including Hydrowonk, dusted off the history books on the 1930s Great Depression to create crystal balls about our country’s economic future.
What happened? How did the Colorado River Basin states cope? What does this mean for addressing the challenges of an over-appropriated Colorado River?
COVID-19 has destroyed the water industry’s economic model (see COVID-19 Will Change the Water Industry, a Trilogy: The Industry’s Economic Model Is Dead) and provides a natural experiment of the impact of economic activity on the environment requiring an enhanced role for improved science (see COVID-19 Will Change the Water Industry, a Trilogy: Enhanced Role for Improved Science). What does all this mean for planning and decision-making?
The COVID-19 pandemic is (hopefully) once in a lifetime disrupter of our lives. The public health establishment has been shattered and is being rebuilt on the fly. The economy is in shambles. We are learning about supply chains and interconnectedness of economic activity. Who is immune? No one.
Hydrowonk’s COVID-19 trilogy shares reflections on the pandemic’s implications for the water industry’s historic economic model, the role of science, and planning. I confess that very few of these ideas were constantly on my mind until recently, although some were simmering.