system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The current population boom in many parts of the Western USA is unsustainable

Not in terms of land or lumber, but mainly water and arable land. The eastern USA is blessed with many freshwater lakes and rivers but in the Western USA it's a different story. Having millions of people live in what are basically deserts like in Las Vegas and Phoenix means that water is a scarce and precious resource. If someone were to sabotage the Colorado River and divert it so Las Vegas and Phoenix were left high and dry, it would be a very bad situation. Also, in a national emergency, those populations would have a hard time growing their own food because of the local climate.

I havent even mentioned California which has it's own troubles with drought and water usage over the years. There are many areas of the Eastern US that have abundant arable land and freshwater, but because the towns and cities there aren't big and trendy no one moves there. Americans rely heavily on semi trucks and water treatment plants for their daily food and drink, especially in places where their climate is arid and inhospitable for farming.
gpt
Human population isn't the problem for water supply, and in some cases per-capita urban use is declining fast enough that total urban water use isn't increasing (for example, Denver).  Also, water shortfalls are often covered by buying rights from farmers, which doesn't change total water use.

The water used for agriculture in Colorado (9 billion gal/day) is enough to supply the domestic water needs of the entire American west (at 100 gal/capita/day, enough for 90 million people).  The problem, for population growth, isn't water availability as such but where it's already put to use.  That problem can be resolved when the willingness to pay for water is enough to buy the water rights to existing supplies.