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The emerging water crisis in the U.S.

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 9, 2008 at 6:29 am

From the Deming Headlight, this commentary, written by Shiney Varghese, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (www.iatp.org)

I am amazed: since last summer, almost every day we hear about another water crisis in the United States Less access to water is no longer something affecting only poor countries. It is right here in our own back yard.

For most of us living in the United States, water is something we take for granted, available when you turn your tap on — to brush your teeth, to take a shower, to wash your car, to water your lawn, and if you have your own swimming pool, to fill that as well. So it was with alarm that many of us read the story of Orme, a small town tucked away in the mountains of southern Tennessee that has become a recent symbol of the drought in the southeast. Orme has had to literally ration its water use, by collecting water for a few hours every day — an everyday experience in most developing countries.

The article highlights water issues across the U.S., and

Irrigated agriculture accounts for 80 percent of water consumed in the United States This high percentage is partially because of low water use-efficiency (the portion of water actually used by irrigated agriculture relative to the volume of water withdrawn). For the western United States, agricultural farms are the single largest water user, half of which is used by the largest 10 percent of the farms.

We need a new approach that sets appropriate incentives to ensure that: water withdrawals do not exceed the recharge rate; water conservation techniques (such as rain water harvesting) are central to land use planning; improved irrigation efficiency and better nutrient management (to reduce non-point water pollution from farm run-offs) are rewarded; and growing water-intensive crops in water scarce regions is discouraged.

Now is the time to rethink our policies regarding urban development, energy production and most importantly our agriculture and food systems, in order to avert an environmental crisis that many countries are already in the grip of.

Read the full text of this commentary from the Deming Headlight by clicking here.

May 9, 2008 · Filed Under Agriculture, National water news