On water conservation

21 May 2008

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

We are doing a NW Earth Institute discussion course on sustainability here at work, and someone asked, "Is it necessary for us to conserve water here in Portland despite seeming abundance and replenishment? If so, why?" My response was not as strong or compelling as I would like. Can you help?

Rick Reber
Portland, Ore.

Dearest Rick,

What was your response? It's hard to be more compelling if I don't know the compellingness standard. I will still make an effort, despite having incomplete information, because I know it is important to be compelling. Likewise, it is important to try to conserve water, even if we do not yet see the need in our immediate surroundings.

What goes around comes around.

We need to live now as if the future has already happened: reduce our carbon emissions, conserve land and water, build our local economies and governmental capacity for the eventuality of changed resources. Perhaps if we transform our lives in response to what we know about the future, the future will go in a more positive direction.

The wide range of climates in our country leaves some of us with a dire need to change our water habits instantly (hello, Las Vegas), and some of us wondering when it will ever stop raining. However, two things are happening that will affect all our global watery lives: climate change and population increases. Here in North America, we have 7 percent of the world's population and 15 percent of the world's fresh water, but we are doing a great job wasting this bounty; within the next 10 years, water shortages are expected in 36 U.S. states.

Maybe the quickest, shallowest answer to folks who are unsure about water conservation but do understand that energy consumption is important to the planet and our future is this: water conservation often simultaneously conserves fossil fuels. Some of the easiest places to conserve at home are in laundry, dishes, and personal hygiene, which together make up about 50 to 60 percent of your indoor water use (toilets and leaks accounting for the remainder). Efficient fixtures and appliances can bring down indoor water use by as much as 35 percent. Outdoor watering, about a third of our total use, is ripe for improvements too: 50 percent of irrigation water is estimated to go to waste. As we bring down our water use in these areas, expenses and impacts are reduced on both the water bill and heating bill.

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Unless you have a well or live off the grid, getting water requires a complex infrastructure of purification, storage, and delivery. The water also must come from somewhere to be stored and delivered. If we conserve, we ease the burden on all these aspects of water "production": upstream and downstream ecologies, the resources used by purification plants, and the impacts of infrastructure improvements and expansions based on predictions of use. If a local population expands, a system's capacity must expand. This has environmental and financial costs -- where will the water come from, who and what will suffer from having water and habitat removed, how much concrete must be poured, etc. Simple conservation can greatly reduce the need for these expansions.

Regional population growth also has an impact in the United States, and I don't think it's at all far-fetched to say that global growth will eventually result in a global water market. For example, Grist is in a region where water is fairly plentiful, nestled against the arid West. At the rate the Southwest has drained major rivers, I imagine we will soon be in a position to sell our water to those who never looked too far to the future in their development. Of course, we all are implicated in a situation where our food is grown in deserts and we like to vacation in those same deserts -- this is a silly way to live, but that has not yet stopped us. We're going to pay.

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Oh, I haven't even touched climate change. Our weather is transforming, and in almost every case this looks to result in precipitation changes with serious implications for water availability. We're looking at more droughts, more heavy rain, or heavier snow melt, sometimes at odd times of the year, for which our current storage systems may not be prepared.

Water conservation, and the water crisis upon us, is a huge topic for which Ask Umbra is too small a vessel. This didn't stop me from putting in my oar, of course, and I welcome more discussions of the topic. In closing, let me point out one more consumer-oriented motivation: In developed areas, water conservation will often require new or changed technology -- from low-flow faucets to larger, more techie solutions for industry, utilities, and landscape design. U.S. consumers play a role in supporting, testing, and adopting such technologies for the home and workplace. So even though it may not seem too necessary in our neighborhood, personal water conservation serves many purposes, and should be part of our general plan for reducing our footprint.

Aqueously,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (10 comments)

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water conservation

Hi Umbra & Rick, (apologies if this has been posted more than once)

Our greatest water use is in virtual water that is imported and exported in the form of food and clothing. Coffee, animal production, cotton, cut flowers, etc are water thirsty crops. A 1 kilo jar of coffee uses 20,000 ltrs or 20 tonnes of water to produce it. Coffee is a major Ethiopian export, yet Ethiopia cannot access water from the Blue Nile for irrigation as Egypt has agreements put in place during the British involvement in that area allowing it use of all of the Blue Nile extractions.

When we eat Jaffa oranges from Israel, we are taking water out of an extremely water stressed region and most likely out of the river Jordan. The country Jordan cannot access this water anymore due to Israel's use of the entire riverflow and Jordan is likely to run out of groundwater this year.

When we rely on countries other than our own to provide for us, we put pressure on fragile water systems. Of course, some countries have to import food as their water sources are insufficient to grow food for their populations. However, many other countries do not need to import, yet they still rely on poorer water-stressed regions to provide food for them. Our domestic water use is only a small aspect of our overall water footprint.

America exports a great deal of water in the form of grain and beef. It is thought that enough water to float a battleship is needed to grow a 1000 lb steer. It takes 1000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of wheat. The water-stressed states should be looking further than domestic and industrial use if real progress is to be made on water conservation.

Flood irrigation needs to be stopped and trickle-drip or spot irrigation procedures need to be adopted. Furthermore, the idea of "making the desert bloom" by installing dams and irrigation channels needs to be put on the shelf. When we divert water away from its natural routes, we deprive one healthy eco-system in order to create two stressed eco-systems. Neither one has adequate supplies to sustain a bio-diverse enviornment.

And then there is rainwater harvesting, stopping deforestation, wetland conservancy... all these things create healthier rivers, groundwater systems and feed into lakes.

Beth D. MSc AEES (Advanced Enviornmental & Energy Studies)

by bethd at 10:14 AM on 21 May 2008

Water

Alas, with all the issues surrounding water, it is important to remember that water from wells depletes the ground water, and that using well water (in an attempt to avoid water restrictions) to keep a green lawn is still reducing water resources. Also, in areas where the "recovery" of fossil fuels is prevalent, the water from wells is often contaminated.

Having lived in the southwest U.S., in the center of the infamous Dust Bowl, water was/is a constant topic. Now living in the southeast U.S., water has only recently become a concern. Why are concerns regarding water supply just now being expressed by the general public?

Over 30 years ago a friend made the statement that the next civil war in this country would be over water! I fear he was correct.

by fde at 10:18 AM on 21 May 2008

Waste not, want not.

This is a good question but will the answer get to those who really need to hear it. It is also amazing there are still people who are in possession of (or can afford) an abundance of resources and still think, "what's wrong with using as much as I can?" Not only water, but our loss of forests and fisheries, and impacts from ag demands make it clear that using all these resources before anyone else can use them up first is a natural human response mechanisms and that's what's frustrating about the question. Climate/environmental changes are known contributers to the downturn or demise of other populations -- some of which had managed to last a lot longer than our current one. Even though we have the technology to see the changes that are happening now (and obtaining adequate clean water should be high on this list), it's apparent that hubris, lack of knowledge, and political pandering continue to be dominant traits that remain the most detrimental toward implementing sustainable practices. There's still hope, though, that we're a smarter species today than in the past and we'll figure it out...

by carli at 12:34 PM on 21 May 2008

Water and Energy

One of the often overlooked costs of excess water use, or waste, is the cost of pumping water. Water and wastewater utilities are frequently one of the largest customers of the local electrical utility, because of the long distances, large volumes, and heavy weight of water.

by farmerjon at 12:58 PM on 21 May 2008

The future is now

Our water provider, EBMUD, is instituting rationing as of Aug. 1. We're already conserving (low flow showerhead with flow meter, front-loading washing machine, aerators on all faucets, drip irrigation on timers, hot water recirculator), but we're grateful for the rationing because it will give us an opportunity to discuss conservation with our housemates. Unfortunately, they come from other cultures (i.e. not Northern California) where conservation is not highly regarded. So having the threat of fines, etc. will be much-needed leverage, which, of course, we hope not to use.

We in the SF Bay Area are fortunate to have excellent water systems. I mean, they drowned Hetch Hetchy for us, so we'd better appreciate that water. But since this winter wasn't as wet as the water managers would have liked and succeeding winters might be as dry as those in the recent past, conserving now is a hedge against stingy rain gods.

Eat what you grow, grow what you eat

by PermieWriter at 2:38 PM on 21 May 2008

furture wars on water

Watch that movie of the 90s, "Tank Girl" (Lori Petty) and see how bad it can become (besides the acting and dialogue).
(grin)
lovelydust

by lovelydust at 4:29 PM on 21 May 2008

Water conservation

At my house I play a game with myself to see just how little water I can use. After washing dishes by hand once a day (there's just 2 of us, so doable), I use both the wash and rinse water to water my vegetable garden, and if it's been raining, which it's been doing in abundance this May here in Bloomington, IN, I store it in containers in my garage until we have a couple of days without rain. I can't imagine wasting water on grass. It's green when it rains a lot, not so green when it doesn't--I could care less. Planting natives is the best way to not water. I also collect water in a bucket when I shower, which also goes to my veggie patch. The less water that goes down the drain, the less that needs to be treated. Any kind of energy conservation can be fun, especially if you get kids involved. I never think of it as deprivation; I think of it as helping this planet that I love.

by bpcaul at 5:14 PM on 21 May 2008

tradeoffs...

First, I want to point out an inconsistency: "Here in North America, we have 7 percent of the world's population and 15 percent of the world's fresh water, but we are doing a great job wasting this bounty; within the next 10 years, water shortages are expected in 36 U.S. states."

You are including Canada (LOTS of water) with the US (not nearly as much per capita esp. when you consider population densities...) -- so the problems with water management are much bigger than "15 percent" implies.

Second, I think that the questioner's dilemma reflects an important fact -- where water is abundant, water management is not so important BUT we all want to feel like we are doing everything we can for the environment.

I think that this thinking is misplaced. Despite all the excellent reasons offered about why people in Portland should conserve water, the abundance of water means that conservation is not so important -- relative to OTHER issues (e.g., car congestion, forests, population growth, etc.)

The reason that people in the SW are more aware of water issues is that water is far more important in the SW relative to minor issues (how do I get enough sunshine :)

So, my answer would be to go find a real problem.

Read more about the tradeoffs in water at my blog: http://aguanomics.com/

by davidzet at 8:53 AM on 22 May 2008

water, water everywhere and not......

I thought I heard somewhere that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed. We drink water, we shower with it, we water with it and it all goes back into the system.
So where is it going? It's all here. But a lot of it is being withheld in the cells of humans that have far exceeeded the population numbers recommended for a sustaninable planet. Add to this surplus number all the domesticated animals. There's just too much life going around. Maybe we and our animals could all wear those cool spacesuits that process urine and sweat and allow one to drink out of a tube. Then we could all continue to overpopulate.

by bailsout at 6:34 PM on 23 May 2008

Just because it rains all winter long ....

It's easy to believe that the gray fall/winter/spring means that there's lots of water being stored for the rest of the year. But having too much rain at once means that the extra water isn't stored, and sewer and storm drain overflows (especially in Salem, and other small municipalities) result in untreated wastewater dumped directly in the Willamette. Conserving water directly reduces the amount of wastewater you produce, reducing those chances. Detaching your gutters so the water flows directly into the ground rather than through storm water drains also decreases the amount of water that's treated as waste.

And, in sharp contrast to the winter, most summers are long and beautiful droughts. More people have learned about that and moved to the area, adding additional pressures to that 'seeming abundance' of water.

And, dude, you're in the PNW. Remember how it's all about the salmon? The more water the Portland-metro region demands from the Cascades, the lower and warmer the streams are where the salmon spawn, and fewer salmon and more hatchery salmon... you know the drill. Check out Save Our Wild Salmon, or some of the other salmon organizations.

by tori at 2:22 PM on 27 May 2008

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