News•March 22, 2012
The Future of U.S. Water Supplies Is Anything But Certain
Around the world, getting clean water presents a constant challenge for millions of people. Our rising global population demands more water for drinking, personal hygiene, agriculture, and industry. Simultaneously, our industrial development pollutes much of the world’s freshwater. And from year to year, droughts and other weather extremes can make water a scarce resource.
On top of all that, now our water has to contend with climate change. As Elizabeth Shope wrote a few weeks ago for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):
As a whole, nearly a billion people still lack access to clean drinking water and over two and a half billion lack a safe, hygienic place to go to the bathroom. Lack of safe drinking water and sanitation is the single largest cause of illness and contributes to the death of 2 million people a year. These issues are unfortunately exacerbated by global warming; more frequent and severe droughts and floods increase water shortages and cause more widespread contamination and sanitation challenges.
Thursday’s designation as World Water Day is meant to draw attention to the world’s freshwater supplies, and that includes reasons that make water hard to come by. We tend to think of access to clean water as a “third-world problem” —affecting people that live in poverty-stricken and developing countries. Yes, regions of Africa, Asia and South America constantly struggle to meet their freshwater demands. But we’re not immune to water shortages here in the U.S.
For nearly a decade the American Southwest has battled both ongoing drought and soaring water demands from the region’s population explosion. In recent years, we’ve pulled water out of the Colorado River Basin faster than it can be naturally replenished and it’s led to fiery disputes about how water should be managed in the region.In the Southeast, population growth, poor resource management and a long run of bad weather were blamed for severe shortages a few years back that led to widespread water restrictions.
Credit: Diganta Talukdar/flickr
Considering how desperate both droughts became, it’s scary to think that they’re a harbinger of what’s to come as global temperatures continue to rise. What’s more is that in terms of compromised water supplies, climate change poses more than just drought risks.
One of the biggest threats that climate changes poses in the U.S. is severe flooding caused by sea level rise. Our recent Surging Seas report and interactive illustrates that in many coastal areas, including Florida, the Mid-Atlantic, and parts of the California coast, rising seas over the next 20 years will more than double the risk of extreme flooding. Millions of homes are vulnerable to this flooding, but so are many cities’ water resources: when floods inundate storm water systems, polluted water can be mixed with drinking water. Moreover, sea level rise increases the risk that salt water can intrude into underground water aquifers (or reservoirs).
We’re not the only ones who have been looking at water-related impacts of climate change in the U.S. Last summer, NRDC surveyed 12 cities across the country and they found half of them —Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Seattle and Phoenix — are likely to face water shortages in the coming decades because of increased global temperatures. And in 10 cities, climate change is raising the risk of flooding or saltwater intrusion, both of which are bound to increase water contamination.
We know it’s a story you’ve heard here before: America’s access to clean water isn’t a sure thing, particularly in light of climate change. Some cities have started preparing for the water challenges they face, but so far, they are in the minority. So, perhaps you’ll forgive us for using World Water Day as an excuse to draw your attention back to the problem. With water demands rising and climate change affecting the supply, the issue is not going away.
Credit: Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).