Can Water Run Out?

Is there such a thing as a personal shortage of water for a citizen of the United States? There can only be a shortage of money to pay the water bill, which for one reason or another always seems to cost around the same depending on how much I bathe or cook. Yes, they say we in LA are in a drought but, I just don't see it or feel it....not until the price of water starts to go up.. and it will. soon.. then people will start to conserve... but until it hits the pocket book my roomate will continue to take 20 minute showers and I will continue to be pissed off that he is using all the hot water!

Among the things that we're trying to do differently in Vanguard, along with looking at stories not as individual pieces but as portions of on-going sagas, is to eliminate, as much as possible, the old TV news concept of "the angle." That's because we believe that many factors contribute to any given situation. For example, look at a piece where Tracey Chang is the correspondent: The Next Giant? The story involves contrasting India's rapid economic growth with those Indians not participating in it, raising the question about long term sustainability. But in visiting a village of left-behinds, we find that there is only one well, with dirty water, for perhaps a hundred or more villagers, and suddenly two big on-going stories--the rise of new powers like India and resource scarcity--intersect... So even if you don't have a big story on water to share with us, just a small detail that you've noticed embedded in some other story, that would still be a valuable piece of our on-going story arc... Or, if you want some tips, here's one: In the city of Long Beach, California, about 20 miles south of the office I'm writing this in, it's now forbidden to hose down your driveway. Is this the case elsewhere? Here's another: Tracey, Laura Ling, and I shot a story on water conservation measures in Las Vegas in September of 2004, and saw a company that specializes in pulling up people's lawns so that they no longer have to water them. What else is going on out there like that?

http://www.drinking-water.org

At my former college [Pitzer] one amazing professor just took his class and a bunch of shovels one day and started ripping up the lawn and replacing it with native, drought resistant plants. Now the college itself is on board and is replacing a ton of the lawn! It is also the home to the greenest dorms in the campus.

We have turned that tiny amount of usable drinking water on this planet, in many parts of the world, toxic and the rest scarce.

California, there are vast areas of ground water that is tainted with military industrial waste; perchlorate.

Perchlorate, is a particularly insidious 'disruptor'. Perchlorate attaches to the thyroid gland through the iodine compounds that it uses to regulate the metabolism. And, in developing fetuses, this attribute negatively effects the brain development by size and its functionality. Climate Change, with the loss of the snow pack in the Sierras and in Canada, and North America will make hundreds of acres of new desert.

Snow is a very important source of water more so then just rain. The melting extends the time of when water is released as a liquid to the ground. Snow reflects the sun's rays and further slows melting. When areas experience drought and high temperatures, the soil becomes what is called 'hydrophobic' which means it repels water. the rain that finally falls is not absorbed. The change in temperature for snow to fall on those areas with hydrophobic soils changes the chemistry of the soils so that they become hydrophilic, or water loving.

It is important to not only learn as much as you can about this important resource we take for granted, but to understand how we regulate its use and distribution and the 'discovery' of new sources. Desalination plants, for example, seem like a wonderful idea until you realize that the technology has yet to solve the problems of cavitation and the exponential growth of biofilms on the filters, the energy needed to run the pumps, the entrainment of organisms from the sea (many animals in the sea begin as mico-organisms and larvae and are sucked up into these plants and killed), and finally, what do we do with the waste - brine (more salt but of a more nasty type).

That is VERY interesting about the bees. I have been hearing and reading so many reports as to why this is happening. This one make sense.

Not a day goes by it doesn't cross my mind.

I'm working on a piece about the bottled water boycott for the CJ group and I was astounded to find that Nestle has negotiated the rights to a Mount Shasta area watershed. One of the most beautiful places in the entire country, a glacier in California, and a corporation is in control of the water supply? Who is running this town?!

Also growing corn for ethanol production is not helping this scenario as it will not only deplete water resources, but pollute them. I truly do not know how much more this good Earth can take of us.

http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/2007/10/increase-in-ethanol-production-from.html

As being a resident of Fulton County GA, I have the pleasure of being in the middle of the water restrictions that are being imposed due to a lack of water. The one thing that I have noticed the most about these water restrictions is that they do not apply to newly planted landscapes, golf greens, construction sites, and car washes to name a few.

Now my family conserves as much as we can by doing the small things that can waste a lot of water if not noticed. By this I mean turning the tap off while brushing our teeth, not using water to rinse dishes off before putting them in the dish washer, taking shorter showers and the like. All these things are small contributions and don't really cause any discomfort for us to do. Oh yeah, did I mention that I live in an apartment? That in itself implies that I'm not outside watering the shrubs or washing my car with an open water hose.

So we're doing our part, we're not hard core, but we conserve. Then I get into my dirty car, not that I care, and I drive down the road a bit and see car washes in full operation with their parking lot half wet from the water used. I go alittle further and see a geyser of water erupting from whatever in the middle of what used to be a forest but has since been leveled for a new shopping center. And I bet if I took a longer drive over to a prestigous golf club off of Old Alabama Road, I bet I'll see some nice green greens.

So when I hear about water restrictions I always think of how they are only doing half the job of conserving water. To truly be a water restriction, they would need to restrict the use of water for ALL outdoor applications regardless of what business's it would hurt by doing so.

But we can't do that. That would be contrary to the "growth" that we need as a society. That would slow down the blind capitalistic machine that wants a shopping center on every straight stretch of roadway. That would also make to much sense.

Water wastage truly f*cks me off....
Quite washing so much!!

Man, the drought in Charlotte, North Carolina is getting a bit out of hand.

I live in the 'extreme' drought area and I am starting to get a little nervous.

What can be done when it will not rain? I don't think sandbags will do it.

We have been under water restrictions for months now.

i live in sunny southern cali. and it usually rains a significant amount here yearly....this year....not so much. I don't even remember seeing one shower of rain...and talk about winter, i haven't had a november like this in years. I can tan outside right now.

Here in Los Angeles we are in the midst of a pretty big drought, yet the city will not start any mandatory rationing. Other communities, especially Long Beach, have made reduced water usage mandatory, but LA only starts an optional program. I don't know why the city doesn't make water rationing mandatory, even a small cut in water usage in LA would be a huge amount of water. But daily I see people watering their sidewalks and driveways, and the city does nothing about it. It's ridiculous.

I am here in Durham NC and we might have to close our university next semester due to the water restrictions in this area and the drought...last night was the first rain in weeks and it has been very warm this summer that just yesterday the frogs were out and looked confused. I dont care what anyone says something is wrong with the enviroment...even my 70 year old mother said this yesterday that something it doesnt take a scientist to see that something isnt right.

By the way we even have high led danger warnings in our water. We always buy water here is something wrong with the USA water system. Here
I cant even wash my car in Durham NC.

I live in Villa Rica, GA, which is in that portion of the map under "Exceptional Drought". There has been newscast after newscast telling us to conserve. We stopped taking long showers and we don't wash our cars or water our plants. Luckily, most of the car washes in Villa Rica (which is a small town anyways) have shut down. But, on every newscast it said that "New Landscaping" as well as golf greens were exceptions. That right there is the problem! I don't even think golf clubs are a part of our economy. On my bus ride to school every day I see dead and dying plants along the road; we pass the golf greens, still lush and green as ever.
We had some rain this past week, but as soon as it hit the ground it was absorbed to have every little bit used by plants.

Last time there was a bad drought like this, my house was burned to the ground. This is not a dormant problem to be ignored.
It's gotten to the point where I'm a little scared.

The abandoned Teer Quarry which is rented out for $100,000 which is now going to charge Durham residents with a ten % surcharge for us using our water..Raleigh could go to the new water restrictions next week a because the only have 90 days of water, fines are now 1000$ and people who have livestock have to rely on the government to buy 1 million dollars worth of hay from neighboring states this water situation is really getting out of hand.

Here is a link to show you the article about the water situation as it linger on. It is no the front page this is serious.

http://www.newsobserver.com/

all your water is landing on northern california right about now.
its raining cats and dogs.

Living in the sprawling metro Atlanta area, and just experiencing one of the driest and hottest summers i can remember, water became THE issue around here. But with many businesses, governments, and citizens cooperating , and the strict water restrictions, in the month of November, water consumption dropped more than 10%, which may not sound like much, but that is about 350million gallons of water a day!

source: http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2007/12/17/daily12.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Maybe it's ignorant or impractical---but water droughts don't make sense.

The planet Earth is what...75% water. The ocean is full of water. The water cycle works...water doesn't disappear it's just redistributed to other areas.

What I don't understand is all this talk about how there's not enough water and how one should conserve---well people don't do that and forcing them to do it won't work. So why can't they just create more fresh water? Why can they not do that? Expensive? So what? Stop the freakin' earmarks and spend millions on making more fresh water plants (or whatever they are called =P ) and make more fresh water and solve the droughts.

Don't ask people to save water...that'll never happen. Give them more water. Water is a resource that will NEVER go away no matter what...all that will keep us from the water we can use is the governments we live under. It's their choice to create weapons of mass destruction or create machines of mass creation.