Waterworld, update.

The Aral Sea has lost 90% of its water. The Mekong River has dried up to a crisis point, not deep enough to allow shipping or fishing boats to travel on it. Las Vegas could be completely out of water by 2013. Across the United States, 36 states will have water shortages by 2015. They'll likely try to start draining the Great Lakes, but those are drying up, too.

Springtime, and the first 70-degree day of it, arrived at the end of March this year in Michigan, a state that used to reasonably expect cold and even snow through the end of April. And everyone is happy, because the flowers and trees are blooming.

But those need water, just as people do.