Quoted from cottonm4:If this drought does not end sometime soon, all bets are off. Can you imagine the millions of people who will be leaving the west and moving into the central states if the drought does not end? These people will not be able to sell their homes because there will be no buyers. So they will come inland with no money and everybody will feel the pain.
80% of total water use in the arid West is agriculture. You'll see farmers rotating crops or farrowing their fields long before you see any kind of exodus. When water rights have a higher value than the crops they raise, you'll see a drop in agricultural production.
A rise in alfalfa prices? Absolutely. Mass migration from Vegas? Nope.