EPA Report Looks at Managing Water Supplies in a Warming World
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 05. 4.08
Image courtesy of Wolfgang Staudt via flickr
Though the EPA has come in for a fair amount of criticism on this site - largely due to its political leanings of late - it goes without saying that its work is tremendously important and that its regular reports, on topics ranging from waste management to air pollution, are well worth the reading. ES&T's Naomi Lubick brings us word of a new draft report on the effects of climate change on water management, called "National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change," which provides a valuable insight on its challenges and the potential mitigation strategies we should be considering.
The report features a long list of challenges managers will be faced with, including ocean acidification, groundwater variability, unusual precipitation patterns and extreme weather patterns. The 5-year strategy it maps out would place a particular emphasis on more efficient hydroelectric power management and better research and analytical tools to promote a holistic, watershed approach to resource management.
The 5 core goals it wants local and federal managers to focus on are:
1. Water Program Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases: Use core water programs
to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation
2. Water Program Adaptation to Climate Change: Adapt implementation of
core water programs to maintain and improve program effectiveness in the context of a
changing climate and assist States and communities in this effort.
3. Climate Change Research Related to Water: Strengthen the link between
EPA water programs and climate change research.
4. Water Program Education on Climate Change: Educate water program
professionals and stakeholders on climate change impacts on water resources and
water programs.
5. Water Program Management of Climate Change: Establish the
management capability within the National Water Program to engage climate change
challenges on a sustained basis.
While most of these goals probably seem fairly common-sensical (as they are), each is intended to serve as more of an overarching objective - and is fully fleshed out in the report's later sections. Besides, when reading these reports, it's important to remember that they are primarily targeted to an audience of legislators - many of which (evidently) lack the proper background to fully grasp the more complex issues at hand.
Via ::ES&T: Preparing water supplies for climate change (news website)
See also: ::A New Era Of Water Conservation, ::Don't You Dare Touch Our Water
To be honest, I think the water scarcity will become the next fuel for a future 3rd world war, although analytic reports like this one is important to educate people on the matter..
I am really glad to see that water conservation and clean water are being recognized as some of the more significant issues related to climate change. We've been focusing on using low carbon footprint materials and materials which use little or no water for some time now. Stone paper from Natural Source Printing is one of them. FiberStone™ uses no water in the processing. A ton of virgin paper uses 16,000 gallons of water, while recycled paper uses 9,000 gallons! Stone paper/FiberStone™ uses NO water!
You are correct. Water is already becoming a political hot button. Have a look at Leonardo DiCaprio's mini-movie about water and the movie "Water" promoted by H2Om and the Love Planet Foundation. There is a promo movie before it that shows a fictional situation where a corporation installs a water vending machine in a small, remote village in India and forces villagers to buy their water instead of get it for free from a well.
We need to conserve water now!
Why don't we start with turning off the water fountains and eliminating those water monstrosities they call coolers , and expect people in the government to provide their own water just for a week. I think they would see how important and expensive water really is.
By the way do you suppose the E.P.A. uses low flow toilets or toilet dams? Can you imagine if they left the toilet unflushed because all they did is pee? Lets get real folks .These guys are as clueless as are most of the consumers it's funded by.
Let's conserve water by getting rid of all the ridiculously wasteful founains in every city. ( ther e are a bout twenty in Boise.) Next let's empty all of the pools and swim in the rivers and lakes .
If we're gonna talk about water conservation let's get serious.Capital lawns. Why not grow plants that are native to the state that the capital represents. It would go a long way toward conserving water AND give people an apreciation for our native fauna.
Water Parks are a thing of the past in my world. SO is the beef industry. I can't believe people who call thmselves envioronmentally friendly still eat meat. The only sustainable animal product is fish you caught yourself.They don't need us to feed them. they live in clean unpolluted water. ( most of the time)
Just a few ideas.THe fountain thing just really makes me mad. WE live in a desert climate and there are all these fountains . O.K. keep the municiple and y pools. They have so many people using them it's good for those who can't drive to the nearest lake.
Charging a prohibitive price for water by the volume used is probably the most effective method for conservation.
Our economies and lifestyles have been designed around the concept of cheap, everlasting water. This was the same as the concept of cheap petroleum, but we can see that era has come to an end. Water is next.
Vickey would no doubt agree that water coolers are better than individual bottles and water filters are better than coolers.
Brennan would no doubt agree that the first bits of water should be cheap (human rights) and gross per-capita consumption should be expensive (back to the lawns!)
As to the EPA and legislators, I want to add that water management is often an oxymoron -- water managers often think like engineers, with command and control programs. It's better to decentralize decisions by making water expensive and then letting people decide how to cope. Read more here.
Vickey would no doubt agree that water coolers are better than individual bottles and water filters are better than coolers.
Brennan would no doubt agree that the first bits of water should be cheap (human rights) and gross per-capita consumption should be expensive (back to the lawns!)
As to the EPA and legislators, I want to add that water management is often an oxymoron -- water managers often think like engineers, with command and control programs. It's better to decentralize decisions by making water expensive and then letting people decide how to cope. Read more here.