LSAT 70, Logical Reasoning II, Q12

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: We won’t face a plague of water shortages in the near future.

REASONING: We only use a small portion of our fresh water.

ANALYSIS: If you live in a desert area, you might see the flaw. Water isn’t distributed evenly.

I live in Canada. We’ve got tons of water. More than we know what to do with. Other countries aren’t so lucky, and they’re short on water already. With more population growth, they’ll face more shortages. It’s not that easy to share water. You can export it in bulk, but you can’t make it rain in other countries.

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1. The conclusion says that we’ll have shortages “unless population growth trends change”. So this possibility of error is already accounted for.
2. CORRECT. This points out the possibility that we could have water shortages in some regions even if most regions have more than enough water. And this is a real problem – many arid regions face water shortages even at current population levels.
3. So what? Apparently we’re only using a small portion of our water, so water conservation doesn’t seem like it needs to be a priority. If you thought “some regions don’t have water and thus need to conserve”….well, answer B is the answer that address that concern. Answer C doesn’t address differences between regions.
4. The key word in this answer is eventually.
   The argument only disagrees with the prediction that we’ll face shortages in the near future. 
5. So? I see no reason to expect that water usage rates in different industries will increase at the same speed. And the key fact in the stimulus is that we’re using only a small portion of our water. This answer doesn’t tell us that we’ll run out of water even with massively increased agricultural usage.

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