In essence; we would have to spend more energy and money cleaning and filtering wasted water for reuse, and would be bottlenecked on the rate of water consumption that we can sustainably use.
Water, broadly, isn’t destroyed when it’s used, but there is in essence a set rate at which we can use it based on how quickly we can take used water, filter and clean it, and then move it back into the water supply.
Our groundwater is already being used at a rate much faster than it can be replenished. We’ll need to rely on desalination in the future, which at the moment is very expensive and energy costly. Not to mention the transport of that water to inland areas.
There’s a reason why companies are buying up water rights left and right. And it’s not because water will be free and plentiful in the future.
So to answer the question; if we keep wasting water, millions may be forced to migrate and millions may die of dehydration. Expect water rations in the future (who knows how long that is). And it’s not individuals wasting the water per say. You taking a ten minute instead of a five minute shower is not the main cause of groundwater being depleted. It’s the unsustainable practices tied to agriculture and factory farming. It’s a societal problem that no single individual is at fault for.
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