Coming Water Wars?
By Loren on Sep 17, 2008 in Uncategorized
Worldwide, water war is a term getting wider use. It describes what some people believe are an increasing number of armed conflicts over drinking water and irrigation water. The UN reports that within 50 years 3 billion people could be facing water shortages. These will likely be flash points for water wars. The most effected areas are Africa, the Middle East and the American southwest.
This week I listened to the grand dame of water issues, Maude Barlow as she lectured at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Barlow is the probably the leading authority on the world water crisis. Among the troubling notes highlighted in her talk was a trend to pump clean water into poor neighborhoods and then place a prepaid water meter at the spigot. If you want a drink, you have to pay first. In some cases filthy rivers run next to the clean water pipe. People without the money to drink the clean water instead must dip into the funky free water. Cholera is on the rise. Prepaid water meters are being used in poor areas in South Africa, Brazil, the United States, the Philippines, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Brazil, Nigeria, and Curacao.
Poor people may not be able to afford clean water, but increasingly no amount of money will provide the needed water for nature’s needs. Human desires routinely trump plants and animals need for clean water. To protect our beautiful landscaping many of us are using water needed by nature elsewhere. The courts are stepping in and cutting water to cities like San Diego. The war of words has begun on that front. Water deliveries are being cut to Southern California to leave more water in the Sacramento Delta to help the endangered Delta Smelt to survive. Initially farmers are most affected and the most angry “Endangered species take precedence over everything,” Tracy-area walnut farmer Jim McLeod said. “Your food supply, your water supply is secondary to the Endangered Species Act… It’s not logical.” I say it is completely logical. Why should Californians have all the water we believe we have the right to when another organism dies because of our greed?
Bill Toone a wildlife biologist and executive director of the EcoLife Foundation which is active in providing clean water for children in Uganda and Kenya says “Conservation is the only short term tool that does not cost anything to implement and immediately saves money and resources.” Sadly San Diegans are not conserving enough. Mayor Jerry Sanders asked for a 10% reduction, but local water users have responded by cutting back 5%. Judging from my inbox many of you do not intend to cut back either. There is so much anger and mistrust on this issue. Many people doubt the shortage is real, others of you think it’s another left wing power grab orchestrated by people who want to gain power by creating bogus shortages. That anger adds credence to the notion that water wars will erupt here in the southwest. When water becomes even more precious people may start a shooting war to keep their share. Bill Toone thinks it could happen “Sadly when there is not enough of an essential resource then we resort to fighting over it for our own survival… this is one war that will start local, in hot spots all over the world and escalate from there. The initial losers: most likely those who cannot pay for water and ultimately spread to our economy and our way of life.”
What do you think? How come more people are not cutting back? How will all this play out? How do you picture San Diego’s future in a world with less or much more expensive water? Will you pick up a gun if the faucet runs dry?
Thanks for tuning in, logging on and speaking up.
Those that don’t cutback live in a bubble of ignorance. They see local lakes and think there is no shortage. My thing is, why are businesses allowed to clean off sidewalks using water hoses, when we are all supposed to be conserving? That would be a first step, lead by example. You have MTS allowed to use water to hose off trolley platforms, calculate how many gallons is wasted for them to do that.
Also people need to remember we do not live in some heavy rain area. This place is a desert. Just because you see trees along some of the freeways, does not make this a intruded rainforest. Water is vital for survival and precious.
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Gina | Sep 18, 2008
Where is the Sarah Palin letter??
The comments were just getting interesting.
Where, oh where, have those comments gone??
JK
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John Kennett | Sep 18, 2008
There is no shortage of water. We are only limited by closed minded thinking. If we were to build more nuclear power plants and use that energy to desalinate sea water we could turn the deserts of the world green. If you claim to be an enviromentalist then you have to be in favor of nuclear power.
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In response, on September 19, 2008, Rob Pink said:
Mr. Howard, I believe we have the technology for safe nuclear power plants……. just one thing, can we store some low level waste at your house?
Just in case you don’t want us to do that, and while an additional million people move into SD County in the next 20 years, maybe you ought to think about conserving a little.
In response, on September 19, 2008, Kenny Howard said:
Hi Rob,
There is no need to store nuclear waste at my house. The US government has the Yucca Mt. Depository that can store all the nuclear waste the US has now and the waste that will generated in the decades to come. We need to think smart. 80% of the electicity produced in France is from nuclear power.
In response, on September 20, 2008, Rob Pink said:
Morning Mr. Howard,
It seems the DOE and the NRC haven’t yet gotten the go ahead on Yucca Mountain. The earliest they could even begin construction of the site is 2013. With the millions of people living in Las Vegas only 80 miles from Yucca Mt., I suspect the fight will go on for years. So can we get you to conserve a little now?
Have you read about and taken the SD County Water Authority “20 Gallon Challenge”? Help us out just a little please.
In response, on September 22, 2008, Kenny said:
Hi Rob,
I would suggest that we don’t conserve water and when we come close to running out the people will demand water desal powered by nuclear power. Sometimes you have to make people hurt before they see the light.
Kenny Howard | Sep 18, 2008
The reason people are not cutting back is the same reason people do not recycle, people are lazy. Recycling did not start really catching on utnil it was made as easy as putting out the trash. It is amazing to me how much we depend on our government and civic leaders to do for us. I am really suprised that a lot of people are able to get to work without someone driving them there. When we lived in Utah we had curbside recycling, all you did was throw everything into one trash can, even with that half of the people on my street did not participate. It really is incredible how lazy people are. A water shortage will come it is just a matter of will people get off their butts and do something about it before it is too late.
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Effie | Sep 19, 2008
This issue of water brings out in bold relief the ecological problem of limits. As modern people, we have an abiding faith in limitlessness - either limitless resources or the limitless capacity of humanity to exploit the world’s resources through science and technology and produce an ever-increasing standard of living and ever-increasing wealth. This view is expressed by Kenny Howard above. Is this true? Is this idea of limitlessness reality or myth?
Although almost all Christians uncritically share this belief with the dominant culture and live accordingly, Christian theology argues against it (also probably Judaism and Islam). There is only one limitless being, and that is God. All else is limited and finite. To attempt to live in a limitless way is spiritually problematic because it confuses ourselves with God, and it is not consistent with reality. It will lead, sooner or later, to disaster - in this world, not to mention the next.
As a Christian I view both myself and the world as limited. It is not infinite, neither in itself nor under the manipulative power of technology. Water concerns and global warming may be early signs of things to come as humans begin to bump up against the limits of this finite world. The world is a wonderful place with vast resources, but they are not limitless. In order to avoid serious problems, we are going to have to have more conversations like this one, where we talk about not only limiting our consumption of resources, but about reducing it. Reality is closing in upon us and the god of technology will not, in the end, save. Among other things, Jesus said, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasure on earth.” Maybe he had a point.
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John Mustol | Sep 22, 2008
I try to be careful about water use but I can give you two reasons why I’m not conserving more water right now. And it is not because I don’t believe in the shortage (I do) and it isn’t because I think it is a power grab. It is another kind of mistrust of people in authority.
1. At some point, when the situation becomes bad enough, there will be mandatory cutbacks. How will they do that? They will force everyone to use, say, 10% less water. Never mind how careful you have been in the past, you will still need to cut 10% (more). So if I have already cut back, where else will I cut? On the other hand, people who waste water can simply stop hosing down sidewalks and be just fine.
2. I live in a house with a homeowners association (HOA), as do lots of other people. Our HOA has rules about maintaining our property and they do not look favorably on brown lawns. Long term, I can rip out the grass the developer put in and replace it with more appropriate plants. Until then, I need to keep pouring water on it to avoid fines. I don’t trust my HOA to understand that verdant green lawns and drought don’t go together—or that saving water is more important than front yard aesthetics.
So whether “they” are the government, the water district, or the HOA, it would be easier to conserve if I knew I wouldn’t be punished for it later.
As to what we can do now, how about having tiered water rates, as we do electricity, so people who use more pay more per unit? How about allowing homeowners to have (legal) “gray water” systems that use sink and shower water to irrigate plants?
And, most of all, we need to give up this irrational fear of reclaiming water for human consumption. Water is a finite resource and we are foolish to waste it because of a psychological hangup. (If people knew what was in our imported water before it is treated, they wouldn’t use that either.)
We can’t keep importing more and more water. Whatever you think of the delta smelt or the fairy shrimp, or whatever, the elimination of a species is an indicator that we have irreparably damaged a whole ecosystem, with untold consequences for the future. It isn’t about one fish. It’s about learning how to meet our own needs without impairing the right of future generations to meet theirs—sustainability.
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Pat Dintrone | Sep 23, 2008
I had an arborist in to look at my trees and found out that I really shouldn’t be trying to solve San Diego’s water shortage all by myself. So I’m watering them again, about once a month, taking care not to let any water run off in the process.
I’m concerned, as Pat is, that my “good” behavior in conserving water will be punished if I’m forced to cut 10% more than I already have. What else can I do if I have low-flow toilets & showerheads, do larger loads of laundry less often, avoid the dishwasher, stress out my landscaping by underwatering and generally use as little water as possible? Is there some way the water authority can arrange the burden so that my neighbors with lush lawns whose irrigation runs down the street regularly have to cut back more and others like me who are already conserving won’t be asked to cut to the bone?
I’m gradually shifting to ever more drought-tolerant plants, but that takes time - and meanwhile I don’t want to kill off my beautiful mature trees. I notice many neighbors are taking out their trees, switching to acres of concrete - but I don’t believe that helps. Trees counteract the urban heat island effect, clean the air, absorb rain water, attract birds, shade my house - provided they’re hydrated, they even help protect against wild fire embers. They seem worth the water to me.
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Diane | Sep 24, 2008
I find it a little troubling that you would ask if we “plan to pick up a gun if the tap runs dry”. Are environmentalists planning to pick up a gun to make sure it does? Loren, environmentalists really should prepare themselves for the pushback they are about to receive surrounding the subject of water. Humans, and our ecosystem, are of far more value than fish.
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Karen | Sep 24, 2008
I understand that there is a water problem. I may have a solution. There are people that shower 2 to 3 times a day and they work at a desk all day. They could cut back to 1 shower a day, their choice, morning or nighttime. Mop floors every other day or every three days. Only use 1 gallon for this. Instead of a dishwasher, fill both sinks with water, put soap in one and rinse in the other. This will save gallons of water a day and conserve energy. Water lawns only 3 times a week. You can set the days or go opposite of what your neighbor does or set up a schedule with him/her.
I used to live in Colorado when their water shortage occured. It was follow the guidlines or pay a fine or jail time or both. Think of the future people. We all want our childrens children to be able to have water for their needs don’t we? We don’t want to lose the veges that we need to survive and we don’t want to lose the meat sources we use do we? THINK BEFORE YOU WASTE WATER PEOPLE, IT IS OUR MOST NEEDED AND VALUABLE RESOURCE!!!!!!
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Nelda McDonald | Oct 15, 2008
This has really inspired me to conserve water. Can I get some kind of waterproof barrel to let water drain off my roof so that I can water my plants with it?? Do they have them at home depot? I’m trying to start a garden…it’s not easy. The ground is like a rock quarry. I bought a baby cilantro plant at Target but it died.
Becky
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Becky | Oct 17, 2008
I think what is been posted is relevent, however, aren’t we looking at the result and not the causes? Water shortage, wildlife extinction, wildfires, global warming are all the result of human overpopulation. What can we do about this?
There was in California a major water shortage in the early 1970s. Many meetings were held in Los Angeles and all over California on this. Given the impact then why wasn’t it addressed then? We are failing to look at long-term ramifications of overpopulation. How can 10,000 wolves compete with over 1 Billion humans?
Cities/Counties and even the State are responding with further development of resorts/hotels/new homes. More land is being developed for commercial/retail. Isn’t it time to look at ways to limit us?
I realize that our cultural need for families and interactions, for a better life, leads many here and they do have that right. But babies are born more readily to the underdeveloped country citizens than to educated aware? humans. Our expansion (overpopulation) — expelling greater amounts of carbon dioxide and utilizing a decreasing amount of oxygen many soo come about and we may have more to worry about than ever before.
Are there any solutions to the core cause of our problem(s)?
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Norinne | Oct 20, 2008
There is no shortage of water on this planet, only a shortage of willpower to get it to populated areas. Canal systems are the best way to do it, but some folks worry about a little river smelt that is like every other river smelt in every other river in the world.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Build it and the water will flow.
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Ron Oliver | Oct 21, 2008
Seriously, Can I put a bucket under my roof to collect water runoff and conserve water or do you think that would be a breeding ground for mosquitos? The water could be used to water my garden; (it really needs help.)
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Becky | Oct 22, 2008