It’s often argued, and generally true, that municipal water use is less vulnerable to drought because cities can afford to pay more for water than farmers. But as U.C. Davis water researcher Amanda Fencl points out, the arrow of adaptive capacity doesn’t always point in that direction. Affluent cities, yes, but often not rural communities:

Key point about adaptive capacity to #cadrought– big ag can afford $1M for new 2k' well, rural pop less able to drill http://t.co/KBLQFLwvOX

— Amanda L. Fencl (@alfencl) October 25, 2014

She’s referring to this:

Larger farms have spent up to $1 million to drill 2,000 feet into the Central Valley’s ancient aquifer, Lockman said.

But individual residents, whose wells are not so deep, have a harder time of it as the water supply shrinks into the earth.