saw record regional precipitation, this time producing epic flooding in the Mis- sissippi and Missouri river basins.
Climate scien-
tists warn of more extreme droughts and floods and changing precipitation pat-
The United States withdraws more fresh water per capita than any other country, much of which we could save. The vast majority of demand does not require drinkable water.
Source: Pacific Institute
terns that will continue to make weather, storms and natural disasters more severe and less predictable. As a policy forum in the journal Science notes, the his- torical data and statistical tools used to plan billions of dollars worth of annual global investment in dams, flood control structures, diversion projects and other big pieces of water infrastructure are no longer reliable. Yet today’s decisions about using, allocating and managing water will determine the survival of most of the planet’s species, including our own.
Shifting Course For most of modern history, water man- agement has focused on bringing water under human control and transferring it to expanding cities, industries and farms via dams, large water-transfer projects and wells that tap underground aquifers. Major water programs have allowed cit- ies like Phoenix and Las Vegas to thrive in the desert, the expansion of world food production, and rising living stan- dards for hundreds of millions. But glob- ally, they have worsened social inequi- ties as tens of millions of poor people are dislocated from their homes to make way for dams and canals, while hundreds of millions in downstream communities lose the currents that sustain their livelihoods. Such approaches also ignore
water’s limits and the value of healthy
ecosystems. Today, many rivers flow like plumbing works, turned on and off like water from a faucet. It’s tougher for fish, mussels, river birds and other aquatic life to survive; a 2008 assessment
led by the USGS found that 40 percent of all fish species in North America are at risk of extinction. Meanwhile, many leaders and localities are calling for even bigger ver- sions of past water management strate- gies. By some estimates, the volume of water relocated through river transfer schemes could more than double glob- ally by 2020. But mega-projects are risky in a warming world, where rainfall and river flow patterns are changing in uncertain ways and require costly power for pumping, moving, treating and dis- tributing at each stage. Some planners and policymakers
are eyeing desalination as a silver bullet solution to potential water shortages. But they miss—or dismiss—the perverse irony: by burning more fossil fuels and by making local water supplies more and more dependent on increasingly expen- sive energy, desalination creates more problems than it solves. Producing one cubic meter of drinkable water from salt water requires about two kilowatt-hours of electricity, using present technology.
Water for People and Nature Thus, a vanguard of citizens, com- munities, farmers and corporations are thinking about water in a new way. They’re asking what we really need the water for, and whether we can meet that need with less. The result of this shift in thinking is a new movement in water
Foods Apple
Beef
Black tea Broccoli Cheese Chicken Coffee Corn
Granola Mango Oats Pasta
Soybeans Activities
All U.S. golf courses Occupied hotel room Typical ski resort
Clothing
Cotton dress shirt Cotton socks Jeans
Sneakers
975 gallons 244 gallons
2,866 gallons each 1,247 gallons a pair
Household Goods Book Car
Carpet
Computer Paper
Pet bed Pet food
Soap Television 42.8 gallons 39,000 gallons
14,650 gallons per 1,000 sq. ft. synthetic
10,556 to
42,267 gallons 3 cups per sheet
1,654 gallons (medium)
1,580 gallons per pound of meaty canned food
180.4 gallons per 3.2-ounce bar
3,900 to 65,500 gallons (per make/model/size)
Source: The Green Blue Book, by Thomas M. Kostigen (Rodale Books;
TheGreenBlueBook.com)
natural awakenings October 2011 23
3.1 billion gallons a day
200 gallons a day
800 million liters per snow season
More Invisible Water Costs Sample Almonds Avocado
Average H2 to Produce
O
259.2 gallons per cup 18.5 gallons to grow 42.6 gallons to grow
1,581 gallons per pound 5.5 gallons per cup
27.4 gallons per pound 414.2 gallons per pound 468.3 gallons per pound 37 gallons per cup
108.1 gallons per pound 65 gallons per cup (varies) 81.9 gallons to grow
122.7 gallons per pound 230.5 gallons per pound 224 gallons per pound
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