Due to conservation efforts, per-capita water use has declined an average of 1 percent or more each year between 1990 and 2008 in 100 communities that depend on the Colo- rado River, but as populations expand, total water drawn from the river during the same period has climbed 5 percent.
Source: Pacific Institute
balancing water budgets. From Boston to San Antonio to Los Angeles, water consumption has decreased via relatively simple measures like repairing leaks in distribution systems; retrofitting homes and businesses with water-efficient fixtures and appli- ances; and promoting more sensible and efficient outdoor water use.
But the potential for conservation has barely been tapped.
It is especially crucial in agriculture, because irrigation accounts for 70 percent of water use worldwide, and even more in the western United States. Getting more crop per drop is central to meeting future food needs sustainably. California farmers are turning to drip irrigation, which delivers water at low volumes directly to the roots of crops. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, between 2003 and 2008, California’s drip and micro-sprinkler area expanded by 630,000 acres, to a total of 2.3 million acres—62 percent of the nation’s total drip irriga- tion.
Community-based education and rebates to encourage
water-thrifty landscapes can help. Las Vegas, for example, pays residents up to $1.50 for each square foot of grass they rip out, which has helped shrink the city’s turf area by 125 million square feet and lower its annual water use by 7 billion gallons. The water crisis requires us to pay attention to how we
value and use water. Across the country, it’s essential that com- munities work to take care of the ecosystems that supply and cleanse water, to live within their water means and to share water equitably.
Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project, a fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and a Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She adapted this article, based on her chapter, “Water – Adapting to a New Normal,” in The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Cri- ses, edited by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch, and a piece published in Yes! (
YesMagazine.org). For more information, visit
GlobalWaterPolicy.org and
NationalGeographic.com/freshwater.
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