The single strongest argument against immigration--legal and illegal

Water.

We don't have enough. Right now we're in water debt--60% of our water comes from ground water. And we've been pumping more water than is being replaced, and we've been doing so for decades.

And though we could use water more efficiently, there's a limit to that efficiency. Humans need a certain amount of water that can't be reduced beyond a certain point, as do the plants and animals on our farms.

Moreover, overall we haven't invested in our water infrastructure for decades, and it's going to cost a fortune even to maintain current clean water amounts delivered to your tap.

And that groundwater? It isn't in underground lakes. It's in gravelly formations called the "porous aquifer." And when you overpump it, the gravel collapses, losing its ability to store water. Permanently.

Now consider all this in the context of America's population having doubled in less than 60 years, and the fact that it's currently expanding at the rate of 38 additional people in America every 10 minutes.

You can go into your kitchen right now and turn the tap and get drinking water, most likely. The amount you pay for that water isn't exorbitant. And you probably aren't being forced to ration water right now. Heck, there was severe flooding in the Midwest as I'm writing this.

So what I'm saying seems false--environmentalist fearmongering that has been debunked...those doom and gloom guys are all wet...desalinazation or something will produce the extra water we need--they'll come up with something, they always do...right?

Dream on.

We're drinking on borrowed water.

For example, the Colorado River now runs dry before it reaches its delta at the north end of the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. We've appropriated so much for agriculture and drinking that there's none left for Mexico. As a consequence the farms that once existed in Mexico along the Colorado are mostly gone.

Knowledgeable people are saying the next wars won't be over oil, but over water, because this is going on worldwide. China is one of the worst, threatening the water supplies of India and Vietnam, just to name two countries.

Remember how we acted as if the supply of fish in the ocean was infinite? Have you priced fresh fish recently? How many times and in how many places have fish stocks collapsed? This is going to be like that--our delusions of infinite supply making things far worse than they needed to be.

So the next time you find yourself talking about illegal immigration with someone, ask them where they're going to get the water the immigrants they're advocating for will need.

We should stop immigration of all but highly skilled workers and their immediate families until we get out of water debt--that or start preparing to live with severe water rationing.

Ask those immigration advocates if they're willing to live with, say, having tapwater metered at half the current allocation per home, and no lawns allowed, and no swimming pools, and no decorative ponds, all as the price of welcoming all those Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadoreños etc. that they demand we admit to the country.