The core theme of the authors blog is to chart out a realistic view of the future that awaits us, and planning our lives accordingly. My impression (from reading the blog these past few years) is that the author is a happy positive person, but you may have to dig into more of his work to see that.

There's plenty of information out there about water problems (California's loss of ground water for example).. I can't really post those articles though as they're not directly relevant to HN.

Don't know about running water but things may be a tad different when America is totally owned by foreign bond holders who want their money back. http://www.usdebtclock.org/. It really, really, won't go on for ever.

"John Michael Greer is the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and the author of more than thirty books on a wide range of subjects, including peak oil and the future of industrial society. "

I wish I read that before reading the article.