[Alberta's Child]

The issue isn't just the amount of water that is available -- it's the amount of clean water that is readily available. There are rivers east of the Appalachian Mountains any one of which could probably satusfy the entire nation's demand. But many of them are too polluted for human consumptions, and even if they were perfecttly clean it's not practical to transport large volumes of water between watersheds like that.

[Old Professer]

There are rivers east of the Appalachian Mountains any one of which could probably satusfy the entire nation's demand. But many of them are too polluted for human consumptions

Only a risk-taker would drink directly from a river -- strain, boil and filter it first and it's pure again.