...(about living in the desert)...

Water,Water,water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, insuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.

"The Developers, of course-the politicians, businessmen, bankers, administrators, engineers-they see it somewhat otherwise and complain most bitterly and interminably of a desperate water shortage, especially in the Southwest. They propose schemes of inspiring proportions for diverting water by the damful from the Columbia River, or even the Yukon River and channeling it overland down into Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

"What for? `In anticipation of future needs, in order to provide for the continued industrial and population growth of the Southwest.' And in such an answer we see that it's only the old numbers game again, the monomania of small and very simple minds in the grip of an obsession. They cannot see that growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness..."

-Edward Abbey

Desert Solitaire, pg. 145

Consider Abbey's Web for a few thoughts from the late Edward Abbey; a desert philosopher and one of America's few great writers.
If one is to survive, then know how to thrive.