{"id":480,"date":"2010-01-10T01:01:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-10T06:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=480"},"modified":"2010-01-10T01:23:27","modified_gmt":"2010-01-10T06:23:27","slug":"running-toward-empty-americas-dwindling-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=480","title":{"rendered":"Running Toward Empty: America’s Dwindling Water Supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Strassman, CBS REPORTS, January 8, 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

\"mead<\/a> Americans are the world’s biggest water consumers. By 9 a.m., after showering, using the bathroom, brushing our teeth and having a cup of coffee, each of us typically has used more than 30 gallons of water. After doing the dishes – 12 gallons per load – running the washing machine – 43 gallons per load – and watering the lawn – 10 gallons per minute – by the time we go to bed, we’ve used up to 150 gallons.<\/p>\n

By comparison, people in the U.K. use a quarter of that – 40 gallons of water a day. The Chinese average just 22 gallons per day. And in the poorest countries like Kenya, people use less than the minimum 13 gallons to cover basic needs.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/a>Because Americans use so much, the report card shows water is an emerging crisis here. "Water is overtaking oil as our scarcest natural resource in the world," said Steven Solomon, <\/a>author of the new book "Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization. And even we’re going to find, in the United States as well."<\/p>\n

Scientists have never measured the exact amount of water available in the U.S., but they’re concerned enough that they’ve just launched a new government study to find out. Experts do agree: Demand is greater than supply. And 36 states face water shortages in the next three years.<\/p>\n

Every day Arizona and parts of New Mexico use 300 million gallons more than they get in renewable supply. The extra comes from underground supplies which are not renewable.<\/p>\n

The Problem<\/strong>
How much water’s underground? When could it run out? No one knows. And clearly that is a problem. Nowhere is America’s water crisis more evident than Lake Mead, <\/a>just outside Las Vegas. The city has 2 million thirsty people – and gets 90 percent of its drinking water from the lake.<\/p>\n

This area has grappled with a decade of drought. All last year it rained two inches, half its normal total.<\/p>\n

"It’s the driest city in the United States; it’s definitely at the crisis level," said Pat Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority<\/a>. When full, Lake Mead could cover all of Pennsylvania under a foot of water. But since 1998, the lake’s capacity has plunged more than half, down 5.6 trillion gallons, enough to supply the entire United States for about six months.<\/p>\n

Locals call the white band on the canyon walls the "bathtub ring." It’s a mineral residue left behind by Lake Mead’s sinking water. It’s more than 130 feet high all around the lake. It’s a reminder how deep the water problem really is. [Read rest of story]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBS News tells us like it is: either we stop wasting water or we’ll be doing without it. The Southwest seems to have learned its lesson — but perhaps too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[83,193,164,27,192,191,140,166],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions\/484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}