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As Groundwater Dwindles, Powerful Players Block Change
In a country where the value of land often depends on access to water, powerful interests in agriculture, heavy industry and real estate draw vast amounts of water out of the ground. For generations, that water has been treated as an unlimited resource in much of the United States, freely available to anyone who owns a piece of land and can drill a well. Entire local economies have been built around the assumption that the water will never run out.
Now it is starting to run out, not only in Kansas but across much of the country. From Maryland to Hawaii groundwater levels are falling, often the result of overpumping and underregulation, made worse by climate change. As the planet warms, demand for water is increasing. At the same time, increased evaporation, as well as decreased precipitation in some places, means that less water is refilling the aquifers, accelerating their decline.
“If we don’t make change, we’re not going to have water,” said Lindsay Vaughn, a state lawmaker in Kansas who has tried to curtail pumping in her state. https://waterwatch.org/uncharted-wat...-block-change/
USA already has 1,400 desalination plants set up to go, of which only 400 are fully operational and ready to work, but only about 200 of the 400 are actually currently in operation. I think it's probably time for the United States to start getting a lot more of them up and running and get water pipelines installed across the nation.
People will complain about the expense and the energy involved in having them operating of course. But these droughts so many of us have been experiencing for the past several years are starting to get serious across ALL of North America from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, from the east coast to the west coast. If the droughts are going to continue as they have been then there isn't going to be any other alternative besides running desalination plants anyway. So regardless of how much it will cost it will have to be done whether people like it or not when all of North America's fresh water seas and all rivers start running dry.
I suspect there could be water wars between nations and the powers that be though. The droughts aren't only happening in the western hemisphere, they are happening all around the world.
Water is more precious than money, that's for sure. If all North Americans want to survive then all North Americans will have to make great financial sacrifices for their desalinated water in the future.
Financial sacrifices won't be quite so required if people will learn to stop putting water hog plants in semi-arid or arid regions. Stop trying to make the desert into a rain forest!
Simple water conservation is something not taught to people anymore, so they waste potable water out of carelessness.
Education is the key here, first and foremost. Learn how to not waste water, no matter where you live, according to that area's extant climate.
Financial sacrifices won't be quite so required if people will learn to stop putting water hog plants in semi-arid or arid regions. Stop trying to make the desert into a rain forest!
Simple water conservation is something not taught to people anymore, so they waste potable water out of carelessness.
Education is the key here, first and foremost. Learn how to not waste water, no matter where you live, according to that area's extant climate.
This is part of it in much of the US. Green lawns have become a status symbol even desert areas. The best thing a lot of places have done is mandate locally appropriate landscaping.
Even here in Maryland there's been a push to grow native plants (which I've always done) but there is still pushback from those who don't want to do it. Then they ***** and moan about their water bills.
Financial sacrifices won't be quite so required if people will learn to stop putting water hog plants in semi-arid or arid regions. Stop trying to make the desert into a rain forest!
Simple water conservation is something not taught to people anymore, so they waste potable water out of carelessness.
Education is the key here, first and foremost. Learn how to not waste water, no matter where you live, according to that area's extant climate.
Colorado is a prime example of that! The entire Denver metro area, which is huge including all the suburbs, has landscaped itself to look like a typical leafy green American suburban heaven despite its dry Southwestern location, where precious Colorado River water is visibly declining in quantity. City water gets pumped to maintain lush green medians on the boulevards and wide grassy sidewalk borders to create a park-like appearance. Large front lawns and backyard lawns are the norm, though water is rationed through the summer months. Meanwhile, across Colorado's southern border, public and private space is all xeriscaped.
But the big one is agriculture, and specifically meat production. It's efficient to grow grain (etc.) for human consumption. It's extremely inefficient to grow grain for livestock then eat the livestock. We can dramatically reduce water use by just cutting our meat consumption a bit. (I'll keep eating bacon once a week!)
But the big one is agriculture, and specifically meat production. It's efficient to grow grain (etc.) for human consumption. It's extremely inefficient to grow grain for livestock then eat the livestock. We can dramatically reduce water use by just cutting our meat consumption a bit. (I'll keep eating bacon once a week!)
Arrrggh!...???
One acre of corn evaporates (,transpires) 600,000 gallons of water per year but it will fed more than one beef steer per year. One steer drinks 30,000 gal per year.
We won,t mention that ranchers don,t irrigate with water from the Colorado river like farmers do. We are very innefficient at deriving nutrition from plants, so we,d have to put even more acres into plants if we ate less meat.
Please learn some agronomy before repeating silly propaganda.
This is part of it in much of the US. Green lawns have become a status symbol even desert areas. The best thing a lot of places have done is mandate locally appropriate landscaping.
Even here in Maryland there's been a push to grow native plants (which I've always done) but there is still pushback from those who don't want to do it. Then they ***** and moan about their water bills.
Yes, it's a lot easier to save a gallon of water than it is to make a gallon of water. Native plants, by definition, can grow without help!
Living in Nevada it became clear to me fairly quickly that it was a big waste of water to have a lawn. Because I had 4 dogs I didn’t want to do zeroscaping so we put in high quality Astro turf. 10 years later when we sold the house it still looked like new. It provided a soft surface for the dogs and surprisingly didn’t get hot in the summer.
But the big one is agriculture, and specifically meat production. It's efficient to grow grain (etc.) for human consumption. It's extremely inefficient to grow grain for livestock then eat the livestock. We can dramatically reduce water use by just cutting our meat consumption a bit. (I'll keep eating bacon once a week!)
Yeah, good luck with your health and the health of the soil without animals.
You won’t be able to grow your grains, not for long…without them
You think for thousands of years people were stupid? Until you came along with the slogans?
A sustainable agriculture is impossible without animals husbandry.
The health of soil depends on it: unless of course you make your poop to fertilize the fields - which wouldn’t be a bad idea if properly composted and applied if not for the pharmaceuticals, cancer therapy, etc
Animals are extremely important for the health of agriculture, the healthy soil and our health
Chemical fertilizers just won’t do it alone: they lack biological and physical properties to preserve and improve the soil, which the only things which feeds animals and humans
You can’t survive on soilless grown lettuce and such and other modern “improvements”, not for long
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