Our trip continues. Today, we're in Roswell, NM (que eerie music). We drove through some pretty dry areas today. It seems that the rain has not blessed this part of the country. But here isn't the only place.
There are a number of places around the United States that are hurting for water. The middle of the country is of special concern to those of us who live there. Our aquifer is being drained about a hundred times faster than it recharges. There are already irritated noises coming from Kansas and Nebraska about a water agreement made years ago that is drying some farmers out of business.
The southeast US has had its own share of water shortages and upper Florida is worried about the Everglades drying out. One community in Arkansas, a well watered state, was down to about three weeks water supply before the last round of storms brought levels up. These are real problems. They won't just go away if we ignore them.
We are facing climate change. How serious and what effect it will have on us as individuals is an unknown. Oh yes, lots of people are willing to put their guesses up as fact. But none of us really knows how the changes will affect us.
Never-the-less, we can do something. I'm not talking about showering together or watering gardens on odd numbered days. We are going to need a national water policy and a group to oversee it. The Corps of Engineers won't do. It has its own agenda to look after. They do a fine job of flood control along rivers and building dams to make more lakes for recreation. That is their mind set and it just won't do for this problem.
I'm going to think about this and do more research. In the mean time, recommended reading is "The Cadillac Desert".
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2 comments:
Dear Steve,
A friend of mine lives in a desert area. The aquifer was being drained. Someone saw an unmarked tanker truck at the local spring. It seems an enterprising townsman was sucking the aquifer dry, bottling the water and selling it back to the town! They stopped him from doing that.
He was so angry that he planted his land in alfalfa-- in a desert. He has sprinklers going all the time to keep it wet and green. Then he reaps it-- and trashes it (he is rather wealthy). He has a sign above the alfalfa field that says, "Kiss My A___falfa!" As of yet, the town hasn't figured out a way to legally stop him from "watering his farm" acreage.
What to do when some small-minded nimnuts like this one think their ego is more important than providing water for an ever-expanding population?
Lauri
Dear Lauri,
You make a good point. Quite a bit of the answer to water sharing is personal responsibility. But a national and perhaps and international policy, laws with teeth to bite law breakers is, I think, the way the problem must be dealt with.
The problem is that often, people believe that they deserve adequate supplies of water no matter where they live. Two western cities, Los Angeles and Las Vegas are examples.
Steve
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