“Fixing America’s Soon-To-Be Waterless Cities

Kaid Benfield. January 23, 2012

When you look at the official U.S. drought monitor map, you immediately see that many American cities may be in the wrong places for long-term water sustainability. In particular, note the presence of “long-term” severe-to-extreme drought conditions across most of Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. 

It’s a very sobering set of facts, especially when you consider that essentially every high-growth part of the US is experiencing significant dryness.  Now let’s look at a second map, this time world-wide:

This is not just a Sun Belt problem but a major international problem. Here are a few facts and projections extracted from a very good summary of the issues by Jay Kimball on his blog 8020 Vision:

• By 2020, California will face a shortfall of fresh water as great as the amount that all of its cities and towns together are consuming today.
• By 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in conditions of absolute
 water scarcity, and 65 percent of the world’s population will be water stressed.
• In the U.S., 21 percent of agricultural irrigation is achieved by pumping groundwater at rates that exceed the water supplies ability to recharge.
• There are 66 golf courses in Palm Springs. On average, they each consume over a million gallons of water per day.
• The Ogalala aquifer, which stretches across 8 states and accounts for 40 percent of water used in Texas, will decline in volume by a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060.
•  Texans are probably pumping the Ogallala at about six times the rate of recharge.

With increasing rises in the temperature of the earth’s surface and atmosphere, this problem seems only likely to get worse.  The geographic details may shift from one season to another, but the long-range trend is toward further diminishing of our sources of water.

A major problem with so many environmental issues, including this one, is that the damage occurs slowly, so that people are lulled into gradually accepting additional increments of deteriorating conditions without alarm. But that doesn’t change the facts.”

Via: The Atlantic

Image: U.S. Drought Monitor