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Saving a Drop to Drink Our Role in the Coming Water Crisis
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by Jim Motavalli
lthough climate change gets most of the attention, the international water crisis looms just as large. The World Economic Forum has ranked water scarcity as the top long-term environmental risk globally for the next decade; the United Nations reports that 1.2 billion people—a fifth of the world’s burgeoning population—live in regions of water scarcity; and as many as 700 million around the globe are already suffering from water deprivation. The U.S. is not in a water crisis—yet— but serious problems loom on the horizon in places like Southern California and the desert Southwest. Los Angeles and San Diego rely on mountain snow in the north to melt and replenish rivers and lakes. But record high temperatures and a shortfall of winter storms—problems aggravated by climate change—have greatly reduced available water supplies. In the Southwest, Colorado River reservoirs were at record lows last summer. As the region continues to use more water than can be replaced by rain and snow, places like Phoenix may experience severe rationing, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Arizona’s Lake Mead, which supplies water to 22 million people, could run dry by
2021, report researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego.
Finding a Solution
“Fortunately, through conservation, more water-conscious consumption and smarter management of water, we can replenish and repair the water cycle. But we must make this a priority and pick up the pace,” says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project and author of Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity. Right now, we’re addressing a 21stcentury crisis with 20th-century tools. Leaky pipes, broken water mains and faulty meters are responsible for the loss of 2.1 trillion gallons of water annually in the U.S., according to the American Water Works Association. And our lifestyles are extremely water-intensive. For instance, it takes 3,120 gallons of water to produce one smartphone; watering a 1,000-square-foot lawn even once uses 620 gallons of water. Here are some simple steps everyone can take. Doing them won’t crimp our lifestyles, but it will help us hold on to our finite and threatened fresh water supply: 4 Eat less meat. The water required to
Online Calculator
WaterFootprint.org offers an online calculator that allows us to figure out our daily use of water and compare it to that of other households.
swfl.NaturalAwakeningsMag.com