Aqua Shock E-Book

Susan J. Marks

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Bloomberg
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 380

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

An objective look at America's rapidly shrinking water supply Once believed to be a problem limited to America's southwest, water shortages are now an issue coast to coast, from New England to California. In Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis in America, author Susan J. Marks provides a comprehensive analysis of the current conflicts being waged over dwindling water supplies. She presents the findings of university studies, think tanks, and research groups, as well as the opinions of water experts, including Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. The book * Explains where our water comes from and who controls it, as well as the cost of water on cash, commodities, and capitalism * Describes the risks of running out of water * Details how we can preserve and protect our most precious, yet most undervalued natural resource Right now, battles over water supplies rage across the country. Aqua Shock is an objective look at how we arrived at this crisis point and what we can do-and should be doing-to solve the water crisis in America.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 : Liquid Gold

Our Endless Thirst

Biggest Consumers

In Our Backyards

The Energy Production Squeeze

The Pocketbook Pinch

Washed Away

Water Wars and More

The New Way of Life

Tallying Individual Water Use

Chapter 2 : Where Our Water Comes From: A Global Perspective

The World is The Stage

The World’s Ecosystem

Water Basics: A Primer

Today’s Reality

Chapter 3 : The Disappearing Act

History Repeats Itself

Climate Change

Water Overuse and Waste

Watertight Land Development

Groundwater Pollution

Geography, Geology, and Water Laws

Population Location and Growth

Chapter 4 : Danger! Safe Water at Risk

Twenty-First Century Reality

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

What About Your Water Supply?

Protecting Water Supplies

Bottled Instead?

Chapter 5 : On Governing Water

The Right to Water

Disputes and Decisions

Western Woes

Should You Care?

More Variables

David Versus Goliath

Laws Create Strange Bedfellows

Federally Reserved Water Rights and The Native American Equation

Public Ownership

The U.S. Government’s Role

Laws: Problem or Solution?

Legal Overhaul Ahead?

Chapter 6 : America’s Water Gods

Water Power

Water and Land Development

Government’s Role

National Water Chief

Chapter 7 : The Cost of Water: Cash, Commodities, and Capitalism

Facts and Figures

The Value of Water

Bottled Details

Privatizing Water

Water—A Commodity on The Market?

Chapter 8 : Can Our Water Be Saved?

Recognizing That The Problems Exist

No Simple Solutions

Conservation’s Role

What About Land Development?

Crackdown on Pollution

Government in The Picture

Individuals Can Make A Difference

The Next Step

Epilogue

Glossary

Recommended Resources

About the Author

Index

ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR AQUA SHOCK

“Aqua Shock confronts an unfortunately little-known fact—the United States is in the midst of a water crisis. Drought and overuse are growing problems, proliferation of chemicals is causing deformities in fish and impacts to human health, and pollution from storm water runoff is damaging our aquatic systems. A talented journalist, Susan Marks highlights these and other challenges, as well as the competing and sometimes conflicting responses. This is not an issue that can be ignored. Americans need to read this book.”

—Kristine Stratton

Executive Director, Waterkeeper Alliance

“Susan J. Marks’ book, Aqua Shock: Water in Crisis, brings to our attention the dire straits that America faces in the future because of water shortages and pollution of existing sources. It is time that the American public awoke to these conditions and took steps, however costly, to change them. Aqua Shock will help achieve this desired goal.”

—Joel A. Tarr

Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor of History and Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

“Across the United States and throughout the world, we have rivers so overallocated that they no longer reach the sea; waterways in our communities so severely degraded that we’d never dream of allowing our children to swim, drink, or fish even near them; and management practices around it all that are often entirely devoid of the science we’ve spent generations discovering. Our water is in crisis today even without the exacerbating pressures global climate change is already starting to unveil for tomorrow. ‘Water’ is truly the challenge of the twenty-first century—our century—and we have to start having a serious mainstream conversation about the legacy we are leaving our children and grandchildren. In Aqua Shock: Water in Crisis, Susan Marks does a great job of getting that conversation started.”

—Alexandra Cousteau

Explorer, Filmmaker, and Water Advocate (www.AlexandraCousteau.org)

“The first step toward making the changes that need to be made to protect our water resources is raising public awareness, and with Aqua Shock, Susan J. Marks has delivered what is needed—a highly readable and tremendously informative account of what she quite rightly calls America’s water crisis. Thankfully, Marks not only spells out in rich detail how and why we as a country find ourselves in the present predicament, but also how we can emerge from it and satisfy our thirst for water in a safe and sane manner. The days of profligate water use are over. They will never return nor should they. With the appropriate steps, we can ensure an adequate supply of clean water for all Americans. Future generations need not be saddled with this crisis. It is within our power to solve this problem, and we must.”

—Ronald F. Poltak

EPA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner (2006) and Executive Director of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission

“Water is a renewable but limited resource. In many communities, water resources are being depleted faster than they are replenished. If this rate is not reversed, freshwater can no longer be considered a renewable resource. We use and abuse water in ways that are not sustainable. Once a free gift of nature, water is now a costly commodity. We are throwing away the very elixir of life. In Aqua Shock, author Susan J. Marks gives a clear-headed summary of the diverse locations and predicaments of water shortages in the United States, along with steps we must take to right the balance.”

—Donald Watson

Architect, Author, and Specialist in Urban Design and Sustainability

“Aqua Shock brings to the forefront a topic which has slowly been building to a crescendo for decades. As the world’s population grew sixfold in the last hundred years, demand for water has outstripped abundant, clean supply. Susan J. Marks reveals, in an easy-to-read journalistic style, the water confrontations that are rapidly emerging and will erupt in the coming decades. Aqua Shock concludes with a series of positive actions that all Americans can take to reverse the fundamentals. The recommendations are given both prescriptively and by showing what other individuals, groups, and communities are doing to rise to the occasion. Kudos to Susan Marks for elevating water to a critical issue on a national level.”

—Tom Binnings

Colorado-Based water policy and economics adviser and Partner, Summit Economics

“The discussions presented in Aqua Shock are very timely considering the tough water-resources decisions being made across the country. With more than 49 inches of rainfall per year, Arkansas truly is a water-rich state. However, withdrawals from aquifers at a rate that is not sustainable have caused water-level declines of one foot per year or more and the development of large cones of depression in eastern and southern Arkansas.”

—D. Todd Fugitt R.P.G.

Geology Supervisor, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission

“The hazards of extended drought are not about loss of green lawns and water rationing, but rather social disruption, conflict, and mass migration of people to greener pastures. Our water-planning scenarios must include worst-case scenarios. Thanks to Susan Marks and her years of journalism experience in providing this summary of social conflicts over the sharing of water.”

—Kenneth R. Wright

Paleohydrologist and Founder of Denver-based Wright Water Engineers

“Susan Marks’ timely new book on the coming water crisis is aptly named. What Future Shock did for change, Aqua Shock does for water. Water is the axis, the yoke of the interdependent troika of energy, food, and high technology that will drive the new economy. We have long underinvested in our water infrastructure. In Aqua Shock, Marks brings her objective viewpoint and cheerful voice to the set of difficult, but not insurmountable, issues that define water today. Marks reminds us that water is indeed gold and that managing water as a first-priority resource is essential to a successful twenty-first-century civilization.”

—Adam W. Gravley

Seattle-Based attorney specializing in water issues, GordonDerr LLP

“We must shift from business as usual—what we at Earth Policy Institute call Plan A—to a plan of action to save our environment. This new plan includes restoration of aquifers. We can arrest the fall in water tables by increasing water productivity—getting the most use from every drop of water that we do have. That means, as Aqua Shock details, recycling, reuse, conservation, and rethinking how and where we use water today. We can do it, but time is not on our side. We must act now before it’s too late.”

—Lester R. Brown

President of Earth Policy Institute and Author of Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

“Water is not only essential to human life as the single most important input for both advanced and underdeveloped economies, it is also essential to our enduring prosperity. Competing demands for this scarce and mismanaged resource will shape global business and geopolitics in the twenty-first century. Aqua Shock and the message it delivers are key to understanding water’s inescapable influence.”

—John I. Dickerson

CEO, Summit Global Management

Copyright © 2009 by Susan J. Marks. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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The ice is melting off the window . . .

Thank you, E&H; and to John and Emma for your patience and understanding.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the cooperation and efforts of many, many people who willingly shared their wisdom, expertise, and personal experiences. That includes scholars, scientists, educators, experts, lawyers, prognosticators, businesspeople, administrators, journalists, farmers, and friends as well as ordinary people with extraordinary tales to tell.

Throughout Aqua Shock, I have tried to treat the issues evenhandedly, but water is a controversial and contentious topic. There are as many sides to an issue as there are participants. The issues, disputes, and situations constantly change, too, especially as more people begin to wake up to the severity of the world’s water crisis. I’ve relied a great deal on data collection and studies from various organizations, including two federal government agencies: the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These two agencies are key sources of data and scientific studies, and many private and public entities, as well as other government organizations, use their research as a basis for their own statistics and reports.

In addition, special thanks to the following people:

Chris Gandomcar, for the long trail rides and conversations that introduced me to water.Stephen Isaacs, Bloomberg’s Chicago-based Editor-at-Large, and Laura Walsh, a Hoboken, New Jersey–based Senior Editor at John Wiley & Sons, for understanding the importance of water, and believing in Aqua Shock.Cynthia Zigmund, my Chicago-based book agent from Second City Publishing Services, for the initial idea of a book “on water,” and her unwavering support.Kris McGovern, my longtime friend, copy editor, and stalwart support.U.S. Geological Survey experts and staff, for their cooperation.Those individuals who so graciously took the time to provide their insightful testimonials and comments on Aqua Shock and the water crisis.Last, but not least, all the unsung heroes—those behind-the-scenes staffers at all the organizations I have written about. They’re the people who help make it all happen.

Susan J. Marks

INTRODUCTION

America is running out of water! Wherever you live, whatever the weather, whether water pours plentifully from your faucets, sooner rather than later your tap could run dry.

Tens of thousands of acres of the nation’s farmland already are parched. Reservoirs, lakes, and streams across the country have dried up. Natural and manmade pollutants, poisons, and contaminants taint water resources. States, growing cities, businesses, neighbors, and one-time friends now fight over the right to take what’s left from our fast-shrinking rivers and lakes, and from the underground water supplies known as aquifers that hold our freshwater.

Water has become the golden commodity of the twenty-first century. Once plentiful and pure, today it’s become a finite resource like oil. The difference: There is no alternative. All living things need water to survive. Prices are rising, too, though not high enough or fast enough to make a difference for most Americans.

Some battles for this new millennium’s “clear gold” are reminiscent of frontier-style, guns-drawn shootouts at the OK Corral; others end up as years-long, megamillion-dollar fights in courts, legislatures, or Congress. Whatever the battlefield, the fights are equally acrimonious and devastating to the losers.

In Arizona pecan farmers watch their trees and livelihood wither in a battle with an industrial neighbor, who they claim depleted the area’s aquifer. After the aquifer’s water level drops by half—from 32 feet to only 16 feet—the trees die of thirst.

The state of Mississippi sues the city of Memphis, Tennessee, and its Memphis Light, Gas and Water Company to the tune of $1 billion claiming Memphis pilfered tens of millions of gallons of water from Mississippi’s aquifer. Memphis walks away the apparent winner—for the moment—but only after a years-long battle in which the lower courts rule in its favor, and then on appeal the case goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refuses to hear it.

In Colorado, the courts order more than 400 water wells shut down, plugged, leaving farmers and families high and dry. The courts determine these people “stole” water they didn’t own the rights to, even though the wells are on their individual properties.

Residents of Chattanooga, Tennessee, may have to trade their Tennessee flags for that of Georgia if the two states can’t settle their old-fashioned border war. The battle is precipitated by a controversial 1818 land survey with the prize, access to the Tennessee River and its billions of gallons of water.

In 2007, victory is bittersweet for tens of thousands of current and former U.S. Marines and their families when, after years of dead ends, denials, and verbal sparring, the government finally releases its analysis of a tainted water supply at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. From 1957 to 1987, the drinking water at Tarawa Terrace family housing was contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a carcinogen that can cause cancers and birth defects. The military shut down the housing units in 1987, but the report wasn’t completed until 20 years later!

Water battles today take on many issues and rage coast to coast. Large-scale water disputes once were rare, and only arose in desert states or between frontier farmers and ranchers. But that was before huge populations, urban and rural sprawl, years of overbuilding and development, drought, climate change, pollution, and more took their toll. Clean water once was abundant, with plenty to go around. But that’s not necessarily the case anymore, especially if you factor in the finite supply mixed with burgeoning demand, and growing water pollution—natural and otherwise. Earth’s essential, no-longer-so-easily-renewable resource is in short supply.

Aqua Shock looks realistically at the water crisis in America. It touches on global issues and connections; explains where our water comes from, what’s happening to it, and why; examines the poorly understood and highly complicated water laws and government edicts that control water supplies; discusses who does and doesn’t own the rights to the water; describes how our groundwater is polluted and depleted; and considers what, if anything, can be done to ease the crisis.

This isn’t another book filled with corporate-speak or grandstanding for a cause, and it doesn’t dwell on the technicalities of the world’s water or the shortcomings of conservation or development. Neither does it single out states, developers, groups, or individuals for ridicule or blame.

Instead, Aqua Shock is a simple description of our nation’s water as a shrinking resource, and the problems, issues, and complexities associated with it. The book brings home the shocking realities of America’s battle for water with real-life illustrations of the thirst and tribulations of individuals, companies, towns, cities, states, and regions. We turn to real stories from real people who give this global issue a human face in our own neighborhoods.

Before anyone shrugs off Aqua Shock as scare tactics, the woes of somewhere else, or more rhetoric from environmentalists, politicians, or corporations, keep in mind that our nation’s midsection—with its withered fields and shrinking groundwater supplies—fulfills much of America’s (and the world’s) appetite for food, water, and—now with corn-based ethanol—fuel. That midsection stretches from North Dakota to Texas and from California to Nebraska. Sometimes heavy rains and flooding do little more than add to the crisis. They can deliver too much water at the wrong place at the wrong time without the infrastructure to harness it, and exacerbate water pollution issues in the process.

The U.S. water shortage isn’t confined to the Great Plains or the West. At least 36 states across the country expect water shortages of some kind by 2013, and that’s not even factoring in drought or changing climate conditions, according to a 2003 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office.1 Forty-six states are expected to be under drought conditions by 2013.

If you think that it’s not in your neighborhood, look more closely:

The 5 million residents of Atlanta, Georgia, were shocked into reality in 2007 when their main water source, Lake Lanier, nearly dried up. By spring 2009, rains had eased the years-long drought and Atlantans’ water worries, or so it seemed. In 2010, a federal judge drove another nail in the city’s water coffin when he ruled Atlanta doesn’t have the right to take water from Lake Lanier. Later that same year, drought returned.North Carolina had its driest winter in 113 years in 2007, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center, part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rains in 2009 eased conditions in some parts of the state, though others continued to suffer. Summer 2010 brought record high temperatures to parts of the state, with drought persisting across southeastern portions.2New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection issued a statewide drought watch in September 2010 after the state experienced its warmest summer (June–August) since weather data collection began in 1895, and its driest summer since 1966, according to State Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers University. The drought watch was lifted for most of the state at the end of October.3Florida, a peninsula (meaning it’s surrounded on three sides by water), averages more than 50 inches of rain a year, yet some areas regularly face water-shortage emergencies. With rainfall totals 70 percent below normal, by mid-March 2009, Tampa Bay Water’s regional reservoir ran out of water. It has since filled back up as drought conditions eased, but the area’s growing water demands are not shrinking, and neither is the population. In 2010, Orlando, Florida, had its driest summer since 1948.4Rain forests, paradise, and some of the wettest spots on earth aren’t immune, either. In July 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated the Hawaiian counties of Hawaii, Maui, Honolulu, and Kauai disaster areas due to losses related to ongoing drought.

Water shortage is a national problem we no longer can ignore. It’s global in scope, too. Here are some numbers:

More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to minimal amounts of clean water, according to United Nations data.5In Latin America alone, approximately 76 million people lack safe water, according to the World Bank.Every year 1.8 million children die as a result of diarrhea and other diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, according to the United Nations report mentioned earlier.By 2035, as many as 3 billion people may live in areas with severe water shortages, especially if they live in Africa, the Middle East, or South Asia, as the World Bank predicts they will.

The issue for Americans isn’t simply a result of population growth or water demand, drought, development, or pollution. It’s all of that and more.

Aqua Shock begins with a look at our nation’s water supply: where it is, what’s happened to it, the global perspective, and why we should be worried. Then we examine why our water is in short supply: drought, development practices, population changes, overuse, regulation (or lack of it), worn-out sewer systems that leach away precious freshwater supplies, and contaminants—both natural and man-made. We’ll also delve into the morass of rules and regulations that govern water: who owns it, who doesn’t, and the “water gods” that control this precious resource. These “gods” are often little-known, extremely powerful individuals in many areas of the country who, by law and sometimes behind the scenes, play a big role in whether you, your neighbor, your neighbor’s neighbor, or an entire town or city does or does not get water. We’ll also look briefly at whether it’s possible to save our water and how that can be accomplished.

After reading Aqua Shock, you’ll better understand why our water is a finite resource, and how ordinary individuals can help turn the thirsty tide with the right information and direction.

Water is a broad issue and—through the lens of Aqua Shock— anything but dry, so let’s get started.

NOTES

1. U.S. General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, GAO-03-514, “Freshwater Supply: States’ Views of How Federal Agencies Could Help Them Meet the Challenges of Expected Shortages,” July 2003, 8, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03514.pdf.

2. NOAA Satellite and Information Service, “State of the Climate National Overview,” August 2010, http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=national.

3. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, “DEP Institutes Statewide Drought Watch,” press release, September 8, 2010, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2010/10_0088.htm; “Drought Watch Lifted for Most of New Jersey,” press release, October 26, 2010, http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2010/10_0117.htm.

4. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, “Florida Drought Conditions, Frequently Asked Questions,” www.dep.state.fl.us/.Drought/faq.htm; Tampa Bay Water, “Tampa Bay Regional Water Supply and Drought Index,” April 6, 2009, www.tampabaywater.org/newsarticles/152.aspx; NOAA Satellite and Information Service, “State of the Climate National Overview,” August 2010, http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=national.

5. First United Nations World Water Development Report, “Water for People, Water for Life” (2003); Second United Nations World Water Development Report, “Water, a Shared Responsibility” (2006); United Nations Development Programme, “Human Development Report” (2006), http://www.unesco.org/water/news/newsletter/183.shtml#know.

CHAPTER 1

LIQUID GOLD

We have really no idea how bad off we are. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

—Daniel E. Williams, Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning

Water is Earth’s most abundant resource—70 percent of Earth’s surface is water—yet less than 1 percent is the readily accessible freshwater we human beings must have to survive. That’s not much to meet the needs of the world’s nearly 6.9 billion people, about 310 million of them in the United States.1 Water was once without question a renewable resource, but that’s not necessarily the case today. We’ve overused it, polluted it, drained it, and built up and over Earth’s natural means to replenish it, especially when drought and changing climate are part of the equation. Even our approach to development has encroached on our ability to replenish our most needed, if not most valuable, resource. Parking lots, streets, and walkways pave out the water by interfering with the planet’s natural ability to restock its freshwater supplies.

Where does Earth’s water come from? Figure 1.1 illustrates the breakdown of Earth’s water supplies.

FIGURE 1.1 Distribution of Earth’s Water

Source: U.S. Geological Survey.

According to a 2003 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office:2

Oceans provide 97 percent—salty and undrinkable, and not usable for irrigation without costly desalination.Glaciers, polar ice caps, and groundwater contribute 2 percent—generally frozen and inaccessible.Surface water, including rivers and lakes, supplies 0.3 percent—generally accessible to satisfy freshwater needs that include energy, agriculture, and industrial and personal use.

The water crisis is global in scope, yet hits each of us personally. Not only do we need water to live, but we require massive quantities of it to produce energy, power industries, develop communities, and grow food. Even processing water for consumption requires huge amounts of water to produce the energy necessary for pumping, conveyance, treatment, and more. If water is in short supply, the costs of goods and services that rely on it go up, too.

For years, recycling bathtub and dishwasher water into the garden or onto the yard was the norm in water-short states like California. Periodic restrictions on water use also are a way of life in other desert and mountain states like Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. But what about water shortages and restrictions in places like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Sarasota, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Colstrip, Montana; Dodge City, Kansas; or Brentwood, New Hampshire?

OUR ENDLESS THIRST

The United States sucks up about 410 billion gallons of water every single day, 349 billion of which are freshwater. That’s nearly 150 trillion gallons of water used every year in this country, according to the latest (2005) data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which compiles water-use numbers every five years.3 To put water use in perspective, consider that the average American uses about one hundred gallons of water every day. That’s about 36,000 gallons a year. (An average-sized backyard swimming pool might hold 18,000 to 20,000 gallons or more of water.) These numbers vary, depending on who’s counting and where they’re counting—geography, weather, personal use, and politics figure into the equation, too.

WATER FACTS

How much is one million gallons of water? According to the U.S. Geological Survey:

A good-sized bathtub holds 50 gallons, so it takes 20,000 baths to equal one million gallons.A swimming pool that holds a million gallons would have to be about 267 feet long (almost as long as a football field), 50 feet wide, and 10 feet deep.For more, check out the USGS web site, http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mgd.html.

Beyond those numbers, the amount of water our lifestyles require can be mind-boggling. It takes about five gallons of water just to produce a single gallon of gasoline! If that’s not consumption enough, to pump, treat, and supply water to our homes also requires a tremendous amount of energy, which in turn requires lots of water. U.S. public water, sewer, and treatment facilities use about 56 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, enough electricity to power more than 5 million homes, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program.1

1U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “WaterSense,” http://epa.gov/watersense/.

BIGGEST CONSUMERS

The biggest guzzler of water in the United States is thermoelectric power. The nation’s power plants require 201 billion gallons of water daily to make steam to turn turbines, for cooling purposes, and more. That’s up 3 percent from 2000. Irrigation is the second-largest water user, requiring 128 billion gallons every day. Domestic water use takes a distant third, with 44.2 billion gallons of water required a day to meet Americans’ personal needs, followed by 31 billion gallons of water daily for industrial, mining, commercial, and aquaculture uses.4 These numbers sound simple enough, but satisfying our nation’s water demands is anything but simple.

IN OUR BACKYARDS

These numbers may sound mind-boggling and the idea of a water crisis here at home more like science fiction. After all, you turn on the tap and plentiful clean water comes out. Until recently the idea of a water crisis, if it existed at all, was someone else’s problem. Few Americans other than environmentalists, a handful of government officials, farmers, and workers for world aid organizations like the United Nations actually paid much attention to the extent of the world’s water issues.

Reality, however, is that the United States has tapped into, sucked up, and maxed out its once-abundant and replenishable supplies of freshwater on the surface and underground. In this country, too, thousands of people fall ill every year from waterborne diseases, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.5

Every place has its own issues with water, says Daniel E. Williams, FAIA (Fellow, American Institute of Architects) APA member (American Planning Association), and author of Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). As an architect and urban and regional planner, Williams has studied water and planning issues in Hawaii, Washington, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, New York, Louisiana, and points in between.

For example, he says, “Colorado sells its water to Arizona, which is basically one desert selling it to the other. The aquifer that serves Tucson, Arizona, is down three hundred feet from water levels one hundred years ago. We’re irrigating desert for our food source, because we’ve built all over the best arable land. A large percentage of our breadbasket right now is irrigated with million-year-old [ancient aquifer] water and water from Canada through the Columbia River and some of the other large transcontinental rivers. No city in the country supplies its own water within its geopolitical boundaries. So it’s literally stealing water from another place, which isn’t a problem as long as that other place doesn’t need it. But once they need it, there’s a big problem.

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” adds Williams, who currently is working on a book on urban design with climate change in mind.

“No one thinks the United States has a water problem,” says Mike Hightower, water expert, environmental engineer, and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sandia is part of the U.S. government’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which studies water as a national security issue. “We have developed an extensive network of dams over the last hundred years, which has helped harness our vast fresh surface water resources. But we haven’t built any major dams in the last twenty-five years, and we’ve maximized the use of our available surface water resources. To meet the growing demand for freshwater over the past several decades, we’ve gone to major utilization of groundwater in our aquifers [underground water supplies], and we’ve begun to overpump those.”

A consequence of overpumping water from many of the aquifers that have been drawn down is that the water left over is often brackish or salty. Saltwater is heavier than freshwater and generally settles closer to the bottom of an aquifer, says Hightower. States that have had to deal with overpumping and salinity issues in parts of their aquifers include Arizona, North Dakota, Nebraska, California, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wyoming, Montana, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, he adds.

WATER FACTS

Source water: Water from rivers, lakes, streams, or aquifers that has not been treated; is used to provide drinking water via wells or public water supplyGroundwater: Water found beneath the surface, such as in aquifers; can be the source water for various suppliesSurface water: Water found above ground, such as in lakes, rivers, and streams; can be a source for various water supplies

Source Water

“We don’t run out of water,” says Eric Evenson, the USGS’s National Water Census Coordinator. “Instead, the demand for it overstrips the supply. We still have a lot of water in various areas, but when we develop our population and our landscape, we don’t always match up our water demands well with our water availability.”

That’s what’s happened in Atlanta. The city’s size and subsequent demand for water have mushroomed while what has been its primary water resource, Lake Lanier, hasn’t. In fact, just the opposite has happened. In recent years, Lake Lanier, on the Chattahoochee River in north Georgia, has been under a veritable siege from drought, downstream demands from Alabama and Florida, and what Hightower calls “the giant sucking sound that is Atlanta trying to get all the water resources it can.” Alabama and Florida want their water from the Chattahoochee, too, and the result is that the courts have a seat at the dispute table these days. (We delve more into water laws in Chapter 5.) The Chattahoochee forms a portion of the border between Georgia and Alabama, and then flows into the state of Florida, where it combines with the Flint River, subsequently becoming the Apalachicola River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. So there are three states and three groups—not including Atlanta—that want their share of what is a limited supply of water.

Water Shortages on Tap

Water woes across the country remain the norm, despite persistent on-again, off-again spotty wet and extreme weather. At least 36 states expect some kind of water shortage to continue through 2013 under normal climate conditions, according to a 2003 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office.6 Factor in drought conditions that already affect areas of the United States, and that number climbs to 46 states!

The National Climatic Data Center reported that as of the end of August 2010, nearly 10 percent of the contiguous United States was affected by drought. The same report also said that nationally, summer 2010 was the fourth-warmest on record, with 10 Eastern states experiencing record warm summers—Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.7

Some other grim numbers to think about include:

The temperature-related national energy demand for summer 2010 was the highest in 116 years. Keep in mind that energy is the single-largest daily consumer of water in the United States.8The Great Lakes is the largest freshwater lake system in the world and holds one-fifth of Earth’s freshwater. Yet Lake Superior, the largest lake, hit record lows in August 2007.9 The lake remained 13 inches below its average level as of August 2010, despite above-average precipitation for that month.10The United States had its fifth-driest December to February on record (2008–2009), with Texas recording its driest winter ever. Twelve states in the southern plains, Southeast, and Northeast had at least their tenth-driest January to February since 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center.11Alaskans worry about water availability in some smaller cities because the rivers freeze above ground, making their water inaccessible for major portions of the year. Therefore, they have to store water during short spring and summer periods, which presents a number of water-quality issues, according to Sandia’s Hightower.Along the East Coast, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), an air pollution–reducing chemical additive to gasoline whose use was banned in 2007, has been found in some groundwater.12 In general, the MTBE ended up in groundwater supplies as a result of leaking fuel tanks or runoff contaminated by gasoline.In September 2010, Governor Steven L. Beshear of Kentucky sought federal disaster assistance for 35 counties hit hard by drought in the western and west-central portions of the commonwealth.13Tennessee also looked to federal relief in September 2010 for water-related natural disasters. In some parts of the state, the problem was too much water, as in flooding, and in others it was too little water that left parched fields and decimated crops. It’s not the first year water has been an issue for the state. As of February 2009, 57 counties in the state had been designated natural disaster areas for agriculture as a result of persistent drought conditions.14In Massachusetts, minimal rainfall along the upper Charles River one recent year left Bostonians wondering just how much longer their water will last, especially if one factors in the pollution runoff problems in the Charles and Mystic rivers, which serve the area. Brockton residents, however, have an alternative. In fall 2008, the Aquaria desalination plant came online; it taps brackish water from the Taunton River.In Florida—the Southwest Florida Water Management District (including Sarasota) declared a water shortage emergency in spring 2008. Low water levels in the area’s primary water supply source, the Peace River watershed, prompted that declaration. Indicative of the changing nature of weather and water (or lack of) accompanying it, Florida experienced its all-time wettest May in 2009.15Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of California, declared a state of emergency in February 2009, to help the state cope with three consecutive years of drought. According to estimates, the cost of drought at that time amounted to up to $644 million16 and it’s not over yet.

The Farm Connection

What if you don’t live in any of those “drought” states, on Lake Superior, in Georgia or in Alaska, or any other area with water problems? Water issues in the Midwest, the Southeast, California, and beyond affect you, too. When the nation’s breadbasket withers, so does your pocketbook. If Midwestern farmers and Florida, Oregon, and California producers and fruit growers don’t have adequate moisture or access to water to grow their crops, that means less grain, less corn, less ethanol, fewer vegetables, smaller fruit crops, and higher prices for everyone.

Although today’s technology enables farmers to grow more crops on less acreage, farming still takes water. The amount is “staggering,” says Brad Rippey, an agricultural meteorologist in the Office of the Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and an author of the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly report that closely follows water availability across the country. (Check it out at http://drought.unl.edu/DM/monitor.html.)

WATER FACTS

Here are some U.S. irrigation facts from the U.S. Geological Survey:1

About 61 million acres were irrigated in 2005.Withdrawals amounted to 128 billion gallons a day, down about 8 percent from 2000 and about equal to 1970 levels.The national average application rate was 2.35 acre-feet of water per acre. One acre-foot equals the amount of water needed to cover one acre with one foot of water.California, Idaho, Colorado, and Montana combined accounted for about half the total irrigation withdrawals.Massachusetts had the highest application rate in the United States—6.9 acre-feet of water per acre, “likely due to water-management practices in the many cranberry bogs,” the USGS report stated.

1U.S. Geological Survey, “Estimated Use of Water in the United States,” 23, http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1344/pdf/c1344.pdf.

Not all the water used by agriculture, however, disappears, adds Rippey. A percentage used for irrigation is returned to the ground. How much depends on the amount absorbed by the crops; the particular crop and its water needs; the type of soil (some soils, like clay, are not as porous as others are); the weather (more evaporation occurs in hot weather); and the climate—arid or not, for example. “As we find with everything to do with water, it’s all more complicated than a simple question and answer,” Rippey adds.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that the average individual requires two to four liters of drinking water a day (or slightly more than a half gallon to more than a gallon). Compare that with the 2,000 to 5,000 liters (520 to 1,300 gallons) of water it takes to produce that same person’s daily food.17 See Figure 1.2.

FIGURE 1.2 How Much Does It Take?

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Though experts differ on the amount of water actually used to grow a particular crop or raise certain livestock, there’s no question that it takes a lot. In fact, it takes so much that the amount of irrigated, cultivated cropland acreage in the United States has declined, in part due to dwindling groundwater supplies, according to a report from the National Water Management Center, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.18 The report points to the following areas of concern:

The High Plains of Texas lost 1.435 million acres of irrigated, cultivated cropland over the period 1982–1997, according to the National Resources Inventory, which states, “Most of the loss is due to dwindling groundwater supplies from the Ogallala aquifer. Aquifer level declines have ranged from fifty feet to one hundred feet since 1980, with saturated thickness reductions of 50 percent.”South-central Arizona has seen water table declines of 200 feet.In the southern section of the Central Valley of California (Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties), an overdraft of 800,000 acre-feet per year has resulted in declines of more than 200 feet in some areas.The Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer in Arkansas has declined 100 feet in 90 years in the Grand Prairie region, and well yields have declined accordingly.

THE ENERGY PRODUCTION SQUEEZE

As we mentioned earlier, water also is essential to the production of energy, whether to cool drills as they search for oil and gas; to create steam to turn turbines that power generators and produce hydroelectric power; or to harness harmful carbon emissions in the air and inject them underground (carbon sequestration).

Adding to the stress that energy production imposes on water supplies, many options for alternative fuels are in geographic areas with limited and already stressed water resources. People tout oil shale, for example, as a great domestic option to meet future energy needs. Not only is exploiting oil shale a costly process that uses huge amounts of water to extract oil from rock, but the nation’s big oil shale reserves are in arid states like Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah that are facing drought conditions and have no water to spare.

WATER FACTS

Water is required to produce fuel. Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, offers an estimate of how much water it takes to produce one gallon of various types of fuel:

Conventional oil and gas: 1.5 gallons of water to extract and refine fuelGrain ethanol (biofuel): 4 gallons of water for processingCorn (ethanol): 980 gallons of water to irrigate cornOil shale: 2–3 gallons of water to extract and refine productHydrogen (synthetic fuel): 3–7 gallons of water for processingCoal to liquid synthetic fuel: 4.5–9 gallons of water for processing1

1Ron Pate, Mike Hightower, Chris Cameron, and Wayne Einfeld, “Overview of Energy-Water Interdependencies and the Emerging Energy Demands on Water Resources,” SAND2007-1349C (Albuquerque, NM: Sandia National Laboratories, March 2007).

THE POCKETBOOK PINCH

Too little or too much water is a no-win situation from a pocketbook perspective. When Hurricane Ike threatened offshore oil-drilling platforms and onshore refineries in the Gulf of Mexico in 2008, oil prices shot upward. At the other end of the spectrum, drought the same year cost California farmers tens of millions of dollars in crop losses. (The April 2010 disastrous BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was catastrophic environmentally to the Gulf of Mexico. But ironically, a report from the Obama administration points to no effect on oil prices long term.)19

The financial cost of water shortages is tough to measure. But, according to a 2003 GAO report,20 the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration identified eight specific water shortages resulting from drought or heat waves over the past 20 years, each costing $1 billion or more. The largest shortage, costing $40 billion, hit the central and eastern United States in summer 1988.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency goes a step further and attributes an estimated $6 billion to $8 billion in losses annually to drought in the United States.21 That’s a lot of cash, no matter where you live (or how wealthy you are).

WASHED AWAY

Even cities and states that you would assume have no water issues grapple with major water troubles. In September 2010, ongoing drought mixed with declining surface and groundwater supplies led Pennsylvania to declare a drought warning in 24 of its counties, and a drought watch for another 43 counties.

The western Great Lakes, says Sandia’s Hightower, including Minnesota and Illinois, and Ohio along Lake Erie have their own water issues. They face population growth and development, limited aquifer supplies, drainage patterns that preclude pulling water from the nearby Great Lakes (because what you take out generally has to be put back into the same drainage basin), and laws relating to water rights. In December 2008, the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of the Environment accused the city of Detroit of stealing water from the Windsor, Ontario, side of the border, a practice it claims has been going on since 1964.

Areas of the Great Lakes Basin—the lakes and the area surrounding them—including parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec—are facing water conflicts, agrees USGS’s Evenson: “As you move farther away from the lake shores, where people are using aquifers/groundwater, you can find areas of conflicts, where either there is not a lot of [water] or moving water out of the basin raises concerns.”

Across the country, antiquated infrastructure contributes to more water supplies washing away. That infrastructure includes crumbling water-delivery systems—think water main breaks—and outdated storm sewers and drainage systems that leach huge amounts of freshwater out of aquifers and carry it away as “waste” water.

Leaking pipes lose an estimated 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water every day, according to the “2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,” from the American Society of Civil Engineers.22