The UK's Guardian newspaper published a story this weekend about water a Western election issue in the presidential race. They opine that lack of water by drought and rising populations could fundamentally remake the West.
"Runaway growth in Nevada, Arizona and across the arid West are stressing scarce water resources. Use of water in the Colorado River, which flows into Lake Mead, is governed by a multi-state Colorado Compact. The compact was negotiated in 1922, and it's a politically sensitive issue. John McCain's state of Arizona never liked the compact and didn't ratify it until 1944. The League of Conservation Voters is running an anti-McCain ad in Colorado saying that he wants to take the state's water." The article included the youtube video below of the Colorado ad.