> If you take out more water from an ecosystem than what is coming in, eventually you run out.
That's fine, people will move elsewhere. Unless the water is literally disappearing from the planet.
That's fine, people will move elsewhere. Unless the water is literally disappearing from the planet.
People forced to migrate due to fresh water scarcity will migrate to where fresh water can be found, which is likely where other people already are, increasing pressure on the increasingly scarce water and other resources in that area, driving conflict, disease, famine, further migration into increasingly stressed areas and leading to social and ecological collapse across the board.
Access to reliable fresh water is foundational to stable society.
That's how one creates a refugee crisis. All those thirsty people fleeing an area where the lack of water has made their property worthless...
They will need somewhere to go, and housing and jobs when they get there - and if they don't find it, that's when things get dicey all round.