Water: Are you worried?

[imcarthur]

Every issue of National Geographic seems to have a water story. The southwest is parched. Alabama and Georgia are tinder dry. Raleigh just introduced water restrictions last week. Florida – where it rains every 20 minutes – has water issues. And on and on . . .

I live beside a Great Lake. Our water comes from Lake Ontario & we have never had a water restriction. Every couple of summers we get a funky smell due to some benign mould somewhere in the water chain but the supply is constant & never restricted. It tastes fine too, btw. And yet, 15 miles north, in a different municipality they have had water issues & most summers they have restrictions – every other day watering etc.

Ignoring the global warming debate for a minute, isn’t this an issue that’s as important if nor more so, than oil? I say “ignoring the global warming debate” because the cause is not the issue, the effect is at the moment. The cause we’ll have to deal with eventually or create “Plan B’.

How’s your water supply?

Ian

[targa911S]

I know this sounds paranoid, but living near a large supply of fresh water was on the list of reasons why we moved here from Florida. There were 99 other reasons too. We have a stream that runs through the back of our land and there is water everywhere here, just dig a well.

[HardDrive]

Water restrictions here in Seattle?

Ummmmmm...nope, can't say we have a problem up this way.......

[GothingNC]

I am.

1st offense for watering the lawn and/or washing the car in Raleigh is $1,000
2nd offense is having the water service turned off.

I just hope the the lake that cools the Nuke plant does not drop much further during the summer.

Too many building permits issued without taken into account a limited fresh water supply.

[Scott R]

Have them in Denver, been around for a few years now, too many houses and not enough supply.

[Hugh R]

Dang, that's pretty severe John.

Here in SoCal, they talk about it. But no rationing or restrictions yet.

[GothingNC]

Photos of falls lake.

Second photo should not have any land showing

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Every issue of National Geographic seems to have a water story. The southwest is parched.

Maybe they need to build more golf courses in the deserts.

[Joeaksa]

Vegas has stopped any new houses with lawns for several years.

Let face it, this is the desert and we should not be building golf courses and places with tree's here.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Vegas has stopped any new houses with lawns for several years.

Let face it, this is the desert and we should not be building golf courses and places with tree's here.

Thats a great idea, they need to do something like that here, semi arid desert and everyone wants a lush green lawn.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Completely agreed. Sustainable design philosophy encourages the use of indiginous plant materials and landscaping. Why on earth everyone WANTS Everytown, USA to look like everywhere else is beyond me. Personally I'd like my place in CA to look like it belongs in CA, a place in AZ to look like it belongs in AZ and a place in New Hampshire to look like it belongs there. Each place has a unique array of indiginous materials that gives a place "character" instead of looking like more of suburban generica.

[Mule]

Originally Posted by Buckterrier

Maybe they need to build more golf courses in the deserts.

Correctomundo. Remember the old Sam Kinneson bit? Move out of the freakin desert!

[artplumber]

Ultimately it's a population thang. (See China)

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by artplumber

Ultimately it's a population thang. (See China)

As long as sex is more popular than death? We'll be having a worldwide population problem.

[wrecktech]

Originally Posted by artplumber

Ultimately it's a population thang. (See China)

Could not agree more, we could do with about 2 billion less people on the earth. Get rid of the 20 million illegals here and we would be fine.

[kstar]

Most San Diego reservoirs look pretty good and no water restrictions that I am aware of here in North County. Of course, most folks here are aware that water conservation is continual since we have been through some long drought periods.

[Tobra]

Clean, fresh water will become the most valuable commodity on earth within your lifetime.

I remember there was flooding in Northern California back when I was in college, like maybe '86 or '87, 100 year flood. They dump all the water out of the reservoirs like it is going to happen two years in a row, then get like 7 or 8 years of drought.

That was when everybody started putting bricks in the tanks of their toilet, had dead front yards and dirty cars. We are pretty flush with water right now, lot of snow on the hills and water in the lakes, but we are getting water meters so we can send more of it South, because there is only so much water in the Colorado River.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by GothingNC

Photos of falls lake.

Second photo should not have any land showing

I flew over this lake on the way out of Raleigh a week ago. I didn't expect drought in NC. They instituted water restrictions while I was there & on the same day the Atlanta mayor was relieving some of their restrictions.

I get the impression that a lot of people are ostriching on the water issue. You know, we'll worry about when we have to, which means too late.

Ian

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Too many people.

And yes, there is such a thing as manmade global climate change.

By the time enough people accept this, it will be too late to do anything meaningful about it and there are some exceptionally bullheaded people who will never believe it, even if their houses explode into flames.

Six BILLION. Think of that number. Ever see six BILLION of anything?

Then think of all the pollution, waste and environmental damage each one of those people does in the course of their lives. It's pretty simple to see that overpopulation is definitely having a negative impact on our planet.

Water purification will be a huge business in the future. There's lots of water on earth, but virtually all of it is either saline or polluted now.

[on2wheels52]

A place that gets rain was high on my list when I left so CA. 44"/year here seems like enough.
Jim