The U.S.: No Water to Waste

For all its natural wealth, the U.S. has its share of water woes. Nearly half of its rivers, lakes and streams are damaged or threatened by pollution, according to an Environmental Protection Agency survey. Occasional water shortages have struck all over the country, even in the rain-rich Northeast.

By far the most serious problems are in the West, where poor water- management practices, rampant growth and extreme drought have hurt both people and vital ecosystems. In cities and towns, water scarcity means quick showers, brown lawns and dirty cars. But the real economic burden falls on farmers, who use between 80% and 90% of the water available in the Far West. While cities can easily absorb drought-related water-price increases, many farmers are being driven out of business by their water bills.

The only salvation is conservation. Since Wayne Wyatt, manager of the High Plains Water Conservation District in Lubbock, Texas, began advising local farmers on water savings ten years ago, some have cut losses from evaporation from 40% to as little as 2%. Bill Buckman, a third-generation Lubbock farmer, says that energy savings and increased crop yields paid for his water- efficient, center-pivot irrigation system within a year.

Some parts of the West will remain vulnerable with or without conservation. Southern California gets roughly half of its water from a single canal system, the California Aqueduct, which carries water from the Sacramento River Delta 800 km (500 miles) south to Los Angeles. Mark Reisner, author of Cadillac Desert, an examination of Western water, notes that the delta is sinking by as much as 7.6 cm (3 in.) a year, leaving the area, much of it already below sea level, ever more vulnerable to seawater intrusion. A major earthquake on the nearby Hayward fault could destroy the levees that protect this crucial water supply. "It's a fragile, fragile system," says Reisner, "ludicrously so since 19 million people depend on it."

The Western system of canals and dams was built with the attitude that fresh water is wasted if it is allowed to flow into the sea. This approach ignored the ecological importance of wetlands and brackish waters, and the price of this ignorance has been the disappearance of many fisheries and waterfowl. Conservationists have had to turn to the Endangered Species Act for last- resort protection for ecosystems. In Nevada the Interior Department is currently trying to satisfy agricultural demands for water while preserving the endangered fish and wetlands in the Stillwater National Wildlife Preserve. Such balancing acts are going to become ever more common. Says former Governor Bruce Babbitt of Arizona: "Only very recently has it become clear that there are no more water holes in the West."