The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water

Sorry not sure I buy the hype..

I live in an area hyped as a drought zone, while still sitting atop of one of the largest aqufiers in Britain.

An aquifer I might add that I was taught in college contained enough water to satisfy everyone in the UK for 300 years, (which is what it is designed to do with massive deep bore holes maintain the water table and prevent saline intrusion)

Yet they are still planning to implement a Summer levy to deal with droughts.. so unless there was proof of a water shortage I'm not buying into scams to get more money out of people already strapped for cash as that is what happens when they claim a resource is running low.

reply to post by alchemist2012

Please anyone tell me how can a developed nation like America run out f water????

The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD countries and is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries (OECD Environmental Outlook, p. 218)

www.greenamerica.org...

I guess that is for starters, the pulp industries, agriculture ind, golf courses and people's pursuit of lush green yards make a sizable dent in overall consumption.

Here is a suggestion:
Solution

Peace,
spec

Golf courses and cemetarys are another huge waste of land and water. I lived out in phoenix for a couple of years in the late 90's and we had water restrictions for washing cars and watering lawns. Alot of people change over to desert landscaping and received some tax rebates or something. But the golf courses and cemetaries some how remained lush and green.

"There are hundreds of golf courses located in Arizona. Below we have compiled a list of many of these Arizona golf courses, along with additional details and statistics. Simply click on the golf course name for more information on that particular Arizona golf course."

arizona.golfersguide.com... - source

sorry if link does not work i havent posted links oftent.

But i mean really thats 100 in az alone multiply that by all the states. Thousands of golf courses and billions of gallons of water.

Cant people just play golden tee...

We deserve what ever we get. And i include my wasteful self in that statement.

reply to post by alchemist2012


I agree with the poster navione above also. Golf courses are a waste of water.
Golfers are going to come down hard, but who cares.
I hate the Scotts. Kidding!
Cemetaries....I guess we are wasting water there too.

When I first joined ATS - I remember having this argument with someone.

We were talking about dwindling oil supplies and how it affects the planet and I said. "wait until you are told it is water we are running out of. That will be the next thing we are scrambling for and raising prices to try and conserve."
Running out of water he said, "preposterous"...impossible, that never will and could not happen.

I'd just seen "The Last Drop" an award winning PBS documentary done by some school girls in Michigan.
Those girls did a fantastic job by the way. You can locate the film and other related material in the link www.npwd.org... though most of the material there is geared toward school children. I like that in an informative film..that way they can't lose me...

Anyway, I think this is the most important topic on ATS... but we all just don't know it yet.

Originally posted by alchemist2012


Please anyone tell me how can a developed nation like America run out f water????.This is insane there must be a reason for this i mean this planet is mostly water.

Could this be some kind of ploy to start a ration of goods and services.I smell something very strange and afoot here.running out of water is not something that can sneak up on you

I live in Michigan and we have the Great Lakes that not only the rest of the Country is after so are foreign nations who want our water, how long to you think the Great Lakes would be viable if they started selling off the water, it would also effect Great Lakes shipping.

Water in the Metro Detroit area is recycled, they built those plants back in the thirties I think, not the case in many cities in the U.S.

Uh oh, you hit on my topic...

Yes, America is running out of water. The reason is rather plain. We use more freshwater than nature replenishes, combined with several desert cities that consume water like they are in the tropics. The West is in peril, not the east. Back East, the climate delivers enough rainfall throughout the year that water shortages aren't the norm. Someone mentioned Atlanta, I'll have to do some research on that.

To begin, this is absolutely the best and truest motto regarding Western US water resources:

Use it or Lose it!

The Olgalalla Aquifer ( Link )

About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. In addition, the aquifer system provides drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary.[2]

We are pulling water out of this aquifer at a rate that is slightly faster than the flow of the Colorado river, to the tune of ~26 cu km/year. That's 26 1 kilometer cubes, if you didn't get it the first time, equates to about 2.7 feet/year lost. It replenishes at ~1-4 inches/year. Hydrologists don't know exactly how much water is down there, but have been warning for years that we will suck it dry with our current practices. When that happens, expect the "breadbasket" to become the new (old) desert grassland.


Colorado River
Speaking of the Colorado, did you know that the US retains 95% of the water that flows, leaving a measly 5% to follow the border along Mexico? (Where it actually dries up before reaching the sea.) And did you know that we divert ~75% of the water at the border, sending it to California's Salton Sea?
Sadly by the time the water has run the course on the US side it is so completely salinated and carries so many agricultural chemicals that it ruins the farmlands in Mexico. And the Salton Sea? It used to be a migratory bird stop, like Mono Lake once was. Now it's dead, and toxic.
Mexico had to sue us over the salinity of the water. They won, and the US built a 250+ million dollar desalinization plant in Yuma, that (due to water politics) has only been operational a few months since it's completion in 1992.

Who is ruining the Colorado you ask? Big Ag is. They grow massive amounts of low-value crops, and as a side note get unheard of deals on their water. Like HUGE deals. LA pays ~$600 for an acre-foot of water (that's an acre, covered by 1 ft. of water.) Corporate Ag producers are getting it for ~$15! Thank Washington for that, they have had an aggressive welfare program for agriculture since the turn of the last century.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention: They are growing these crops in the DESERT. Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Southern California, New Mexico...Seems like a logical place to grow vast commercial crops.


Snake River
Starting at the feet of the Tetons in Wyoming, the Snake River "snakes it's way south, into Idaho, across then up the panhandle, dropping into Washington, finally dumping into the Columbia River and to the sea. I want to highlight the Snake because it is very very typical of Western waterway battles happening almost everywhere.

There are 15 dams on the snake river (~28 on the entire Columbia River watershed) built in order to supply farmers and towns with water. Funny thing though, the Snake river used to be prime (i mean PRIME) Salmon spawning grounds. There is a very long and bitter war being fought every day, between the fishing industry and the agricultural industry over Snake River dams. Add to that a population explosion in Idaho in the last 20 years: just under 20% increase from 2000-2009, and you can see that the water is getting pretty thin up here.

Another threat to the Snake River's water is all those desert cities, hungry for water. Way back in 1986 Los Angeles tried to make a move on the Snake's water, and the threat is still looming. Subsequently LA is all for the Fishing industry's goal of taking out the dams. If ag is destroyed along the Snake, then LA can get at the water that much easier.

So if you made it through all that, you can see that the issues are deeply complex, affect nearly everyone living in the Western half of the US, and con really only be resolved through major cultural shifts. How do we fix it you ask? I thought you would never ask!

First of all, desert cities need to realize that they are desert cities. Look at this:
LA: img.groundspeak.com...
Las Vegas: images.goplanit.com...
Pheonix: pics4.city-data.com...

To put all that water in perspective: The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas (from the pic) ALONE loses to evaporation ~12 million gallons a year from their "lake". Multiply that by all the lawns and swimming pools and fountains and you can see that these cities are not in any way trying to live within their water-means.


Second, the farmers/corporations existing in desert climates need to consider growing logical crops. For example the Snake River plain is where most of your big fat yummy potatoes come from. The Snake River plain is high desert! Potatoes take a metric sh*t-ton of water to grow! 95% of the snake river water is used for agriculture!

Third, we as Americans need to get off our addiction to meat. Yes meat. How much water is consumed to make a pound of beef? Actually hard to get a straight answer, cause there's Beef industry studies (~600gal) and Vegetarian studies (~2500gal), but as you can see...that hamburger you just ate dipped into the water supplies. Newsweek once wrote about it, saying while the numbers aren't clear, the water used to raise a 1000 pound steer would float a battleship!

Fourth, we as a civilization need to evaluate our water useage. It makes no sense whatsoever to have green, water-wasting lawns in dry arid climates. All that junk about turning off the tap when you brush your teeth, taking quick showers, "if it's yellow let it mellow..." That stuff is all TRUE! We NEED on every level to conserve water and use it judiciously. If we don't the lesson we or our kids will learn will be a very harsh and expensive one.



PS: Did you know that this was/is a real idea under consideration?
en.wikipedia.org...
www.youtube.com...
Imagine the size and cost of a project like this. It was conceived in 1950...How much more serious is the situation 60 years later?

Post PS: Grab a copy of Cadillac Desert , it's a great book outlining in depth what is happening with water. Latest revision was in 1993, and nothing has improved since then.

OK one last thing: www.gly.uga.edu...