Detroit tells judge: We can't give away free water

[NickB79]

28. Your post illustrates how much water we waste in this country

1400 gallons a month, for a family of 4, gives almost 50 gallons per day. Each person gets 12 gallons of water per day.

In many parts of the world, that would be an amazingly large amount of water to use.

Here in the US, where we think it's our God-given right to water our lawns until they're emerald green, take 20-min showers every day, and run dishwashers and washing machines half-full on a daily basis, we gnash our teeth over such thoughts.

With climate change rapidly altering the planet's hydrological cycles, it's not too hard to see a day when there will be water shortages even in the Midwest. Hell, you don't even need a drought to have a water shortage, if the water gets warm enough: http://www.salon.com/2014/08/04/this_is_climate_change_ohios_water_crisis_was_a_manmade_disaster/

Over the weekend, 400,000 people in northwest Ohio were told that their tap water was no longer safe to drink, cook with or bathe in. Water at a treatment plant had tested positive for dangerously high levels of toxins. Residents were warned that microcystis, the bacteria behind the chaos, can cause skin rashes and burns, along with vomiting, diarrhea and liver problems. It’s been known to kill pets and livestock. And boiling water, officials added, only makes the problem worse. Life came, temporarily, to something of a standstill until 9 a.m. Monday when, after extra, precautionary delays, Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins finally declared the water safe again.

Welcome to life — weird, chaotic, scary, disruptive — in a changing climate. The direct cause of Ohio’s water problems, according to city officials, was likely an algae bloom in Lake Erie. The cause of the algae bloom? In a word: Us.

The lake, the world’s largest freshwater system, has been increasingly overwhelmed by an influx of phosphorus: runoff from industrial agriculture and from urban sewage treatment plants. Meanwhile, summer has been becoming hotter and longer, conditions that promote the algae’s spread. An oft-cited study, published in 2013 in the journal Nature, found that those two factors combined are contributing to an increase in harmful algae blooms — a problem, the researchers added, that’s “only going to get worse.”

Enjoy washing your car. One day our grandchildren and great-grandchildren may think we were crazy for doing so.