BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PENNED these words in 1746, though they undoubtedly hold true today: the value of water is tied to the timing of demand. Historically, demand for water has been met with the creation of surface reservoirs. It stands to reason then that when drought hits, communities often call for more dams to be built—and quicky. What worked in the past, however, will likely not work in the years to come. This year, water resource managers all over the nation observed reservoir conditions that warn of a hotter, drier future. Lakes dwindled to trickling creeks. Sandbars, long submerged, peeked out from receding reservoirs, visible for the first time since dam construction.
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