The Alarming Outlook for Urban Water Scarcity

[KansDem]

By 2020, California will face a shortfall of fresh water as great as the amount that all of its cities and towns together are consuming today.



by Kevin Benfield, cross-posted from NRDC’s Switchboard

When you look at the official US drought monitor map, you immediately see that many American cities may be in the wrong places for long-term water sustainability. In particullar, note the presence of “long-term,” severe-to-extreme drought conditions across most of Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.

It’s a very sobering set of facts, especially when you consider that essentially every high-growth part of the US is experiencing significant dryness. Now let’s look at a second map, this time world-wide:



This is not just a US Sun Belt problem but a major international problem. Here are a few facts and projections extracted from a very good summary of the issues by Jay Kimball on his blog 8020 Vision:

--By 2020, California will face a shortfall of fresh water as great as the amount that all of its cities and towns together are consuming today.

--By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in conditions of absolute
 water scarcity, and 65 percent of the world’s population will be water stressed.

--In the US, 21 percent of agricultural irrigation is achieved by pumping groundwater at rates that exceed the water supplies ability to recharge.

--There are 66 golf courses in Palm Springs. On average, they each consume over a million gallons of water per day.

--The Ogalala aquifer, which stretches across 8 states and accounts for 40 percent of water used in Texas, will decline in volume by a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060.

--Texans are probably pumping the Ogallala at about six times the rate of recharge.

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/01/23/408976/the-alarming-outlook-for-urban-water-scarcity/

The Ogalala Aquifer is the one the Keystone XL pipeline would have been built over...

[Mojorabbit]

1. kick & R nt

[Jack from Charlotte]

2. Republics have a solution......

Cut taxes on water bills.

[hfojvt]

3. well last summer, the mighty Mo

was flowing at 100,000 cubic feet per SECOND. Theoretically, with a mere $50 billion pipeline, some of that water could be diverted to Texas. We'd be happy to sell it to them.

[leftyohiolib]

5. thats correct there was talk about it before and we got very vocal about it

besides global warming will provide lots of fresh water

[tabbycat31]

6. We as a society need to reconsider our water use

Our biggest culprit is not our showers, etc, but our lawn.

Many people are required to maintain green lawns because of HOAs. In certain places, it makes absolutely no sense to have a lawn (Arizona comes to mind). Instead why not use climate appropriate landscaping.

Water companies and utilities could increase water bill charges after a certain amount to curb watering the grass too.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. Fuck pools, turf lawns, and overpopulation.

As a Californian who is looking at that future as a reality, I think it is time our State took serious action towards preparing for our future. Mandatory xeroscaping, rain catchment systems, permeable hardscape, low flow fixtures -- those are a good start.