by kevin, on October 12th, 2009
If you’re looking for an incredibly informative, yet terribly depressing, account of the perilous state of U.S. water supply, read Ken Midkiff’s book Not a Drop to Drink: America’s Water Crisis (And What You Can Do). As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, although the Earth surface is largely covered by water, seventy-five percent, most of that, ninety-seven percent is salt water. Only three percent is fresh water that can be used by humans. Salt water cannot be consumed, cannot be used for crop irrigation, cannot be used to water our lawn, cannot be used for industrial purposes, and cannot be used to wash our cars. The planet is covered with 326 million trillion gallons of water in oceans that cannot be used without dramatic alteration. As we begin to stretch the limits of fresh water access, it’ll seem more and more like a terrible irony. Of the fresh water, two thirds of it is locked up in glaciers and ice pack – most of that in Greenland and Antarctica. Another one third is below the surface in ground water. Just three tenths of one percent is accessible surface water. Of that, nearly all of it can be found in lakes. Eleven percent is in swamps, and just two percent can be found in rivers. Of all the water present, less than one percent is accessible and usable.
In the United States, all major rivers have long been controlled, managed, or manipulated by the federal government through the Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Army Corp of Engineers. Rivers that can be tapped, have been. And in some cases beyond their ability to dependably deliver. Most American water comes from ground water. The chapter in the book about the Ogallala Aquifer is reason alone to read the book:
The Ogallala Aquifer, also sometimes called the High Plains Aquifer, is a vast underground water storage area (174,000 square miles) extending under most of Nebraska, the western half of Kansas, eastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
The Ogallala Aquifer was formed from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains, as snowmelt from the Rockies saturated a vast quantity of rocks, mud, sand, clay, and other erosional debris. Through a variety of geological processes that occurred over a thousand years ago, the entire Ogallala Aquifer became isolated from its source and now receives no recharge from the Rocky Mountains.
Nearly one third of all U.S. agricultural irrigation comes from this one aquifer. And since it’s not getting recharged, it’s just getting depleted. Some estimates range from less than twenty years for the thinnest sections and one hundred for the thickest. As large as it is, it’s a limited supply. Once tapped, it’s empty. Another major aquifer lies below the California central valley. Rapid depletion of it has resulted in as much as twenty to thirty foot of elevation drop in some areas.
More than seventy percent of all water consumed in the United States, and sixty percent of world water, is used for agriculture. But have we developed and become dependent upon a system that is not naturally replenished, or grows crops in parts of the country that are only feasible with vast quantities of exported water? It seems Mr. Midkiff is suggesting just that.
Getting back to where this post started, unless we start taking a hard look at our water sources and water consumption behavior we will quickly find ourselves in a very difficult spot where none of the potential choices required will lead to positive conclusions. It’s human nature to procrastinate or push off difficult decisions to a later day. Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? But tomorrow is coming faster than we can imagine. Before we know it, tomorrow will be here and there will be no time to ponder, plan, or deliberate about reasonable solutions. If we put off making tough choices, then we make them even more difficult for future generations. We have the knowledge and technology now to solve looming problems. Why not plan today for a time when diminishing supply cannot keep up with increasing demand? Why wait till those two lines cross? Read this book as a good starting point for understanding the critical issue water will become if we wait too long to act.
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