Many of you readers may be scratching your heads as to why I would say China sets an example for the United States. Other than moo shu chicken and spring rolls, there have been few Chinese exports I’ve raved over in my lifetime. However, the policy which provides incentives for those families who limit their number of children is growing on me.

We are in a drought, and a bad one at that. It’s been rumored that Atlanta will run out of water in four months or so if rainfall ceases. Watering bans have been enforced throughout the Carolinas and Georgia for almost a year straight now with no sign of lifting as the warm spring and summer months approach. Surprisingly though, as bad as we think the situation is, the southwestern part of the country is in worse shape or will be soon enough.

Lake Mead, the reservoir which backs up to the Hoover Dam, is down nearly 100 feet. It’s been predicted by experts that it will be nothing more than a dry crater by the year 2021. I’ll concede that part of the reason for this is because the nation is a seven-year drought cycle which forecasters hope will soon end. However, regardless of the amount of rainfall, the lakes still may never recover to the water levels at which they once were due to the exponentially growing population. Currently, 650 million gallons per day are used by the city of Las Vegas and another 650 million gallons evaporate daily from Lake Mead. Making those numbers seem like a drop in the bucket are the 6 billion gallons per day used by the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Simply stated, the earth cannot sustain the increasing demand indefinitely. The world population is projected to be 9.3 billion by 2050. We, as a global race of humans, are in trouble. Much of the water shortage in the United States comes from the tragedy of the commons phenomenon. While each individual uses slightly more water than necessary for his personal needs, the reservoirs as a whole deplete drastically because each individual fails to take into account the millions of others using slightly more than is necessary. Unless we can stop our wastefulness, the only solution is to think about abating the demand by limiting the number of users.

I am aware that limiting population growth of the United States opens up economic issues with regard to a smaller number of contributors into social security funding and a potential drop in gross domestic product if our workforce is smaller. These are issues that, with foresight and planning, could be worked around. There is, however, no Plan B if we run out of water. With that in mind, I do not advocate punishment for those who have two, three or four children, only an incentive for those couples who limit themselves to one child.