In the 2015 Hollywood blockbuster “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the film’s villain, Immortan Joe, is a post-apocalyptic warlord who wields power over his followers and the regional economy by controlling the Citadel, a fortress-like structure that contains the last source of fresh water in the wasteland. At one point, after briefly letting water flow to the throng of people begging for it below, Joe shuts off the supply and warns them, “Do not, my friends, become addicted to water; it will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!”

It’s a silly line — warning people not to get addicted to water is like telling folks not to become reliant on oxygen — but it both shows the total control Joe has over the populace and underscores the scarcity of water in the wasteland. So precious is water i

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