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Heat, drought and population threaten supply
By Brian Skoloff Associated Press
Published on Saturday, Oct 27, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.: An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is meltingfaster each year.
Across America, the picture is critically clear the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.
The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.
''Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be,'' said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association.
Water managers will need to take bold steps to keep taps flowing, including conservation, recycling, desalination and stricter controls on development.
''We've hit a remarkable moment,'' said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. ''The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency.''
The price tag for ensuring a reliable water supply could be staggering. Experts estimate that just upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.
''Unfortunately, there's just not going to be any more cheap water,'' said Randy Brown, Pompano Beach's utilities director.
The United States used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000, according to the latest figures available from the U.S. Geological Survey. That includes residential, commercial, agricultural, manufacturing and every other use almost 500,000 gallons per person.
Coastal states like Florida and California face a water crisis not only from increased demand, but also from rising temperatures that are causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. Higher temperatures mean more water lost to evaporation. And rising seas could push saltwater into underground sources of fresh water.
Florida's environmental chief, Michael Sole, is seeking legislative action to get municipalities to reuse wastewater.
''As these communities grow, instead of developing new water with new treatment systems, why not better manage the commodity they already have and produce an environmental benefit at the same time?'' Sole said.
Florida leads the nation in water reuse by reclaiming some 240 billion gallons annually, but it is not nearly enough, Sole said.
Floridians use about 2.4 trillion gallons of water a year. The state projects that by 2025, the population will have increased 34 percent, from about 18 million to more than 24 million people, pushing annual demand for water to nearly 3.3 trillion gallons.
More than half of the state's expected population boom is projected in a three-county area that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, where water use is already about 1.5 trillion gallons a year.
''We just passed a crossroads. The chief water sources are basically gone,'' said John Mulliken, director of water supply for the South Florida Water Management District. ''We really are at a critical moment in Florida history.''
On Friday, federal officials met privately with the governors of drought-stricken Alabama and Georgia and announced plans for an interagency team to tackle a long-standing water rights dispute involving those two states and Florida.
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the high-level federal panel will have the ''straightforward goal of acting with urgency to prevent an emergency.''
Californians use nearly 23 trillion gallons of water a year, much of it coming from Sierra Nevada snowmelt. But climate change is producing less snowpack and causing it to melt prematurely.
California, like many states, is pushing conservation as the cheapest alternative, looking to increase its supply of treated wastewater for irrigation and studying desalination, which the state hopes could eventually provide 20 percent of its freshwater.
Experts also say the Colorado River, which provides fresh water to seven Western states, will probably provide less water in coming years as global warming shrinks its flow.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.: An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is meltingfaster each year.
Get the full article here.
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