In addition to these topics, people should understand where the water that is disappearing originates. The majority of states in the Southwest region rely on the Colorado River. It provides water to seven states and over 40 million people, but parts of the river have dried up to muddy trickles. “The most immediate cause is 14 years of drought unrivaled in 1,250 years” (Weaver). It is very apparent that climate change is a chief reason for the water shortages. Some other causes of this problem comes from low snowpack at the river’s origin, high summer temperatures due to climate change, depleted reservoirs, and over demand due to overpopulation. Other experts believe that pollution and illegal pumping add to the causes for depletion of the Colorado …show more content…
The overpopulated areas of the Southwest cause a high demand in water, which results in excess usage of the reservoirs. This does not give the reservoirs a chance to refill, causing it to deplete. Pollution causes the water to not be sustainable or usable in homes. Because of the scarcity concern, many homeowners have started to illegally draw water from the river and will soon be forced to stop by way of fines. Overall climate change is thought to decrease water containment and is causing the river to actually run dry in highly populated areas. The water shortage is so severe that the authorities are reducing the flow from both reservoirs: Lake Powell, which supplies the upper Colorado basin, and Lake Mead, which supplies Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Figure 1 shows just how severe the drought has gotten, especially in the Southwest (“United States Drought Monitor”). In order to adapt to such a change, Arizona is using laser technologies to reduce runoff, Las Vegas is recycling and putting water back into Lake Mead, and San Diego is building a desalination plant. However, some experts believe this is not enough because of climate …show more content…
It is crucial for this aquifer to remain full. Edward’s Aquifer is not an underground pool of water, but a soaked sponge. It would cost a large amount of money to start pumping water from the reserves. The aquifer is home to seven endangered species, and over forty species and many cities depend on it to be more than 95% full. If it ever sinks below this percentage, the springs stop flowing, which causes catastrophic effects for animal and plant species. The Edward’s Aquifer already supports so many species and cities along with five waterparks. This averages to about five to nine million gallons of water used annually. Therefore, when Schlitterbahn announced its plans for a new waterpark in Cedar Park that will rely on the aquifer for their water, causing much concern for those already depending on the aquifer. “If we can’t count on our leaders to see the long term effects of our decisions today, how can we protect our future? It has been my experience that ecosystems function by rule of the domino effect” (Lynn). With this said, the people of Cedar Park need to understand that their decisions affect everyone who rely on the Aquifer, not just the residents. Edward’s Aquifer is much needed for the citizens of the San Antonio area, and people who rely on it should be aware of how their water is
The California water drought has been declared a crisis by the governor of California. 2013 was the driest year on record, and California could be running out of water. Californians should be water wise, and their use, or no use, of water will have an enormous impact on this drought. They can use the techniques published in a recent Time article called, 5 Ways to Bust California’s Drought, to reduce their water use. Landscape techniques, alternate water sources, and the personal conservation of water can reduce the use of water, and can have a positive change on this water crisis.
Fact: Arizona is in a 10-year drought. Fact: The city of Phoenix has a water problem that has nothing to do with lack thereof. A hundred years ago or more humans would just drink from a river or stream, but today we need purified, cleansed, and filter water. We do, as a state have a water treatment system in place but the faculties periodically need maintenance and must be shut down to receive it. The Water Department and their puppet master Frank Fairbanks the city mangers have been playing Russian roulette with the citizen of Phoenix. The bet you ask, will the shut down of facilities due to maintenance leave the citizens of Phoenix with a contaminated water system. We learn the answer to that question on the 25 of January the city council and water department both lost that bet. The water supply was contaminated, water had to be boiled to make in safe and long showers were not advisable. How can we as voters keep this from happening again? The short answer is building another water treatment facility, for the details read on.
Water has long been a controversy in countless places worldwide and Colorado is no exception. The water rights in Colorado involve different stages within the Prior Appropriation Law; the senior and junior water rights. Senior water rights are privileges that were the first to be issued on unappropriated streams in Colorado and are to be filled before the junior water right holders. Junior water rights are similar to senior water rights, but are filled after the senior water holders take their allotted amount (Wolfe Prior Appropriation Law). The water in Colorado is just that; Colorado’s water, owned by the people and restricted by the state. However, Colorado is required by law to send over 30 million acre – feet of water to seven western states (“Missouri River”). An acre – foot is “The quantity of water required to fill one acre with one foot of water and is equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet or 325,850 gallons” (“Missouri River”). The State enforces all water laws in Colorado even though they are not straightforward and are riddled with loopholes. These water laws came into effect “As early as 1879” (Hundley, Jr. 53). In the laws, there are even more constraints and idiosyncrasies including; owning ground water, owning surface water, senior rights and junior rights, and the use and reuse of rainwater or graywater. Water users in Colorado need to familiarize themselves with the laws and regulations involving water in order to receive the allotted water and the reasoning behind that number.
Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.
As global temperatures and ocean levels rise, the water levels of the Great Lakes continues to fall. As the lakes hit their all time lowest level in global history in 2012, society remains ignorant to the imposing doom that lurks ahead. Since the Great Lakes make up the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth and are responsible for approximately 21% of the Earth’s fresh water supply, this issue is becoming one of the largest environmental and economical issues our modern world faces. The effects of this issue include destroying animal habitats and a major economic market; shipping. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been dropping for the past fourteen years, but it wasn’t until boats were scraping the bottom of Lake Huron that people began to take notice. This terrible environmental issue has been dubbed a long term cycle of over evaporation and not enough precipitation to replenish the Lakes. Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit has been monitoring this issue for a decade and has made startling discoveries, such as in 2012, he discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Huron’s water levels only rose four inches after winter, whereas the Lakes have been regularly recorded as gaining a foot of water after the winter season had ended. This amount of water added is not enough to maintain a proper water level during the dry, hot summer seasons that evaporate much water from the Great Lakes. While some scientists say that this is just a cycle that will adjust itself naturally, most experts that have been studying this phenomenon, such as Kompoltwicz, would agree that the issue has gone to far
With the changes coming from global warming and increased greenhouse gasses, there will be many impacts to Texas over the coming decades. One of these impacts is the effect on our water resources. Texas’ main source of fresh water is precipitation, coming almost completely from rainfall. With temperatures rising and with an expectation that precipitation levels will most likely drop in coming years, this combination will put great stress on our water reservoirs. If we continue our current usage rates of water and if recent climate changes continue to persist then we will see a huge decrease in our water reservoirs. Also, given that we are in a drought, it appears that conditions are getting worse every year, posing a serious problem for the future if this issue is not addressed now.
Americans today tend to believe that the Colorado River drought has been a recent occurrence, although drought relief strategies have been implemented since early 1997. To summarize, in the book The Colorado River Basin Drought Planning and Organizations, Colorado is named as the original state to acquire a drought relief plan. For instance, various assume water levels are diminutive in the Colorado and blame is due to the previous ten years of drought throughout the United States. Although it is true that water levels are at a record low, initial plans in the early 1920’s to introduce manufactured structures into the water basin is the original reason Colorado’s water system began to be compromised. It follows, then the supplementary natural
Water shortage is a growing problem for most countries in the world. For China, which has 20% of world’s population and only 7% of available water resources, this problem may become catastrophic (Hofstedt 2010, 72). Therefore some actions and measures should be performed to avoid or at least to weaken future water crisis in China. In this work the following three solutions will be proposed and analyzed in terms of efficiency and applicability: water usage efficiency improvement; adopting the local agencies on controlling water resources; reasonable water pricing.
“Don’t waste that water! Kids in Africa don’t even have water to drink!” Almost every American has heard this saying before. We have heard this because there are water shortages in third world countries like Africa, as seen in the movie “Blue Gold”. But why have we developed this notion that there are only water shortages in third world countries? When in reality, there is a shortage of water right here in our home country. The Colorado River’s water is high in demand as it serves millions of people, powers industries, and is home to all different kinds of wildlife. The Colorado River will not be able to keep up with the increasing demand of water and soon enough the river will go dry. Organizations like the Colorado River Water Users Association are trying to change the way that the water is used and adjust how it is managed. The Colorado River is drying up and the western states are running out of water, however, public policy is trying to regulate and preserve the Colorado River to make it more sustainable in the future.
Caused by climate change and urbanization, water shortages are a major concern of the Mexican government at both the local and federal level. Mexico City, the third largest city in the world with more than twenty million inhabitants, struggles with water scarcity because of the potential risk it poses to the wellbeing of its citizens. Similar to the situation in other megacities, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, Mexico City’s water supplies are being depleted because of a growing urban population. (CBC News , 2009 ) Unable to sufficiently supply the increasing population size of the city, the water in the Mexico Valley aquifer is being drawn out faster than the aquifer’s recharge rate. Exacerbated by the fragmented nature of Mexico’s political culture, the exploitation of Mexico City’s water resources due to a growing urban population is detrimentally degrading the environment and creating a self-perpetuating problem that places the city and its inhabitants at risk.
In our generation of new technologies and high civilization it is hard to believe that our World is in Water crisis. This crisis is affecting not only low-developed parts of the world but also it affects high-developed countries, about one third of the humanity suffers from the scarcity of water (Molden 2010). One of the main causes of it is overpopulation. In increasing water demand water sources which we have now are not able to renew themselves. Another factor of water scarcity is not economized water consumption. Nowadays most of countries are beginning to realize that solving the problem of scarcity of water is very crucial. One of them is Mexico where water shortage is the national problem.
There is a global shortage of drinking water. A person might wonder how this can be if seventy percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water. Most of the Earth’s water is unsuitable for human consuption. Ocean water is salt water, which makes up 97.5% of all water on the planet. Freshwater is only 3.5% of all the water on Earth. Drinking water is sourced from bodies of freshwater.
Water Scarcity is harmful to human life because when water is poorly managed throughout the world, those who need water are deprived of nutrients they truly need causing them to die. This eventually affects the global population. Therefore many experts have proposed several solutions such as the LifeSaver Bottle, TrojanUVPhox treatment system, and Waste Water Recycling.
Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. As the long Mediterranean summer drags on and the promise of rain evaporates as quickly as the few fat drops that have fallen here and there, residents of the capital and its surrounding areas find themselves resorting to ad hoc private water networks as the public pipes run dry. "We had originally dug at 30 meters, but we are now digging at 70 meters," one private water supplier and well owner told The Daily Star(Unknown, 2013,page
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises: