In this Monday, July 26, 2021, photograph, a well head is shown on the Terry Bison Ranch as Cole Gustafson, a water resource administrator for the Greeley, Colo., Water Department, works near his pickup truck. Population growth continues unabated in the South and West, even as temperatures rise and droughts become more common. That in turn has set off a scramble of growing intensity in places like Greeley to find water for the current population, let alone those expected to arrive in coming years.

David Zalubowski / AP

In this Monday, July 26, 2021, photograph, a well head is shown on the Terry Bison Ranch as Cole Gustafson, a water resource administrator for the Greeley, Colo., Water Department, works near his pickup truck. Population growth continues unabated in the South and West, even as temperatures rise and droughts become more common. That in turn has set off a scramble of growing intensity in places like Greeley to find water for the current population, let alone those expected to arrive in coming years.