Nation Thirsts For More Water

It is the United States' most vital resource, yet it has no smell, no taste and no color.  It is stored in glaciers, ice caps, deep underground and in surface reservoirs.  Quantities are so vast that it is measured in quintillions.  And yet the risk of future supplies becomes more acute each year.

Water covers about two-thirds of the planet, but it is fast becoming scarce in many areas of the country.  The federal government predicts that at least 36 states will face water shortages within the next five years.  An American Chemical Society research study forecasts 70 percent of the nation's 3,100 counties have "some risk" of fresh water shortages. 

As the population grows, water consumption increases for residences, agriculture, manufacturing and commercial use.  Water usage in the United States topped 148 trillion gallons in 2000, according to the latest available figures from the U.S. Geological Survey. 

With rising usage, tensions over water rights have boiled over.  Farmers squabble with water-starved cities for more.   States feud about boundries to establish water ownership.  Cooperation has evaporated between cities, states and regions thirsting for increased water supply. 

Despite the looming crisis, federal, state and local governments are only paying lip service to the issue.  Billions of taxpayer dollars are shoveled into highways, airports, bridges and seaports without giving water a second thought.  Often the collection, purification and distribution of water is not even considered a key part of a city's economic infrastructure.

Unlike oil, water is not a scarce resource.  By some estimates, there are 360 quintillion gallons of water on the planet.  Scientists believe there is more water on the earth now than just a few decades ago.  However, it is not evenly distributed and nearly 97 percent of it is salty sea water, unsuitable for either agriculture or human consumption.

Despite all the hoopla over energy, water represents the greatest challenge for the next century.

Addressing the issue will require major changes at the local level. Today many major city water departments are led by political appointees with no professional experience in water management. For example, the city of San Antonio's water system is headed up by Robert Puente, an attorney and former member of the Texas legislature.  This is all too common practice across the country. 

The U.S. needs more water resource management professionals.  Without an upgrade in management personnel, there will be little progress because the easiest solution always is to mandate strict water conservation and rationing.  The country cannot conserve its way to more water to satisfy ever increasing demands of a mushrooming population.  Experts acknowledge that cities must better manage current resources, but without new sources, the nation will have a water deficit. 

Here are four key steps required to secure the country's water future:

Mandate more cooperation on water resources management and planning.  Too often water is seen as a zero-sum game with each region squabbling over the resource.  States and cities must plan together on the best strategy to share and acquire water supplies. Proposals should be drafted to handle extreme contingencies, like long-term droughts, so that states and regions can shift supplies from one locale to another.

Build more water recycling facilities.  An American family of four can consume up to 400 gallons of water per day, according to WaterSense.  Much of the liquid fills bath tubs, showers, sinks and toilets.  Once it is used the water disappears down the drain. This so-called "gray" water could be recycled for use on residential lawns, crops, city landscaping, golf courses and greenbelts.  This would save millions of gallons of water, particularly in agriculture, which soaks up 70 percent of the nation's consumption.  In addition, drip irrigation and precision sprinklers need to be widely deployed for more efficient crop watering.

Construct more desalination plants.  Surprisingly, there are about 1,000 small-to-medium sized desalination plants in the U.S., which extract seawater from oceans and remove the salt. Tampa Bay boasts the country's largest desalination facility, producing 25 million gallons of fresh water a day.  But it pales in comparison to Saudi Arabia's $1.6 billion Shoaiba Desalination Plant, which pumps 125 million gallons every day, supplying water to one of the world's driest regions. Although the plants are expensive to build, construction must start on large-scale facilities to satisfy the spiraling demand for water in the U.S.  Only three percent of the earth's water is freshwater and the world's population has access to just one percent of it.  Without tapping the world's oceans, future water needs simply cannot be met.

Invest in a nationwide water transportation network.  Natural gas pipes, fibre optic cables and electricity lines crisscross the United States.  However, there is no similar water trans-continental network to move the liquid from one part of the country to another.  In most years, parts of the country are plagued by record floods while other sections suffer crippling droughts.  Rain always seems to fall where it is needed least.

Where do we get all the money for such investment?  

First, the nation must consider water a critical infrastructure issue and realocate existing budgets more equitably to fund projects.  Cities and states should pool resources to offer water development bonds to attract investment from the private sector. Individual project loans could be used to finance stand-alone projects, such as a desalination plant.  At the national level, the feds could provide government-backed loans to private sector firms engaged in water research and development in exchange for their expertise in solving the water conundrum.

The country's predicament is not having too little water to meet our needs.  It is a crisis of water supply management and planning that has helped create the water quandary. Without urgent action, the U.S. inches closer to the the brink of a catastrophe with every sip of water.