A suburb in Arizona lost its source of water. Residents warn: We're only the beginning

A man in Arizona sees a glimpse of a potentially frightening future. A future where the planet is hotter, the soil is drier, and our most precious resource is evaporating.

His job is delivering water. And his job is getting harder.

John Hornewer is now having to drive hours farther each day to fill his truck, which, in turn, fills the subterranean tanks at homes in an area outside Phoenix.

His normal supplier cut him off; more precisely, on Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, Ariz., cut off transfers to the exurban community he serves in a desire to conserve water for its own residents.

He found new suppliers, farther away. Then another supplier cut him off.

And now he's had to go farther, spending more time in his truck, making fewer deliveries, and having to double the price he charges hundreds of his customers in Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated community that has lost its water supplier.

"It's brutal," Hornewer said in an interview. "The water haulers simply cannot keep up."

Hornewer refers to Rio Verde Foothills as a warning sign, as the Colorado River shrinks and climate change is forecast to make things worse: "We're the first domino to fall."

Ingenious and borderline-desperate water-saving tactics are being deployed. 

People are now showering at nearby gyms. Some eat on paper plates. They collect rainwater in outdoor buckets and use them to flush toilets. 

They flush toilets less often and promote their water-saving ways with not-entirely-tongue-in-cheek slogans like: Don't blush, share a flush.

"One neighbour started peeing outside," said one resident, Linda Vincent. "We haven't gotten to that point yet."

This county, Maricopa, is a fast-growing area in a fast-growing state.

A visitor can see why so many people want to live here: It's a gorgeous place. It has suburban Phoenix on one side, horse ranches on the other, and in the middle, golden sunsets illuminating terra-cotta-coloured mansions adorned in cactus landscaping.