WATER!

There is only so much usable fresh drinking water on this planet. It’s fine water has been discovered on the moon, but it’s not going to do us any good. We waste water like it’s never going to run out, but it will, unless we start treating it like we do oil. California’s Imperial Valley grows more food, due to the canal system that brings water from the north, than anywhere else in the nation. It has a longer growing season, less changes in climate, and a usually abundant source of water. Not any more. There are thousands of acres lying fallow because of a water shortage.

The main problem is the drought affecting much of the north. That, plus the fact much of the supply has been reduced due to the federal requirement of maintaining water levels to ensure endangered species can survive. I’m not going to get into the endangered species act and how it affects water, but it’s there, and a big problem. There is also the fact much of the levee system in California is literally falling apart. It is what holds back the sea water from the fresh water. Should the system collapse, salt water will mix with fresh, and the entire drinking water supply for cities like Los Angeles will be undrinkable. It is estimated that if the system should fail, Los Angeles could be without drinking water for as long as three months or more.

And that is only one state. the Ogallala Aquifer, which spans seven mid continent states, is running dry. It is estimated that if all water drawn from it were to stop, it would take over two hundred years to refill it. It’s use is essential for crop production in those states. When Ethanol came along, corn farmers rejoiced; but the water and energy necessary to grow the corn, and  manufacture Ethanol, make it a devastating loss to the aquifer. T Boone Pickens would like nothing more than to buy up all water right of way from the aquifer so he could pipe it to Texas. And if his plans for windmill farms succeeds, that just may happen.

Many southern states are also feeling the results of water waste in the form of having to buy water from areas that have it, and those areas refusing to do so. Georgia, Alabama and Florida in particular are fighting over water in the Chattahoochee River basin that feeds all three states. It would not be surprising to hear of physical battles over fresh water. And again, the endangered species act comes into play there.

The Colorado river, once a magnificent symbol of the power of this country, is now but a shadow of it’s former self.  By the time it reaches the Sea of Cortez, it is basically non-existent. It is being filled with silt that used to wash all the way to the sea, and the damns along it are outdated and becoming a hazard to populations living downstream from them.

Water is something I’ve been keenly interested in for many years, and see it as the one thing that could bring this country down. We can learn to live without oil, but we cannot, under any circumstances, live without water. So the next time you plan on planting a lawn that will become the envy of the neighborhood, think: that water you will be using to make it green could be used for drinking and growing food. And which is more important to life on this planet?