Water Demands Draining U.S. Rivers: Many Rivers Suffering from Severe Water Shortages

Environmental News Service ^ | 04/10/2003 | J.R. Pegg

[Willie Green]

Concern over fresh water supply is becoming increasingly common in our nation due to pressures from drought and population growth. Our coastal states are frequently evaluating the viability of desalination systems to provide their fresh water needs. Desalination is an energy intensive process, so it is quite common for these facilities to be built in close proximity to electric power plants. For this reason, it is also reasonable to consider the use of nuclear desalination as a potential option.

Desalination is not a panacea for all our nation's rivers. But in densely populated coastal states, it certainly is an alternative that would alleviate the burden placed on rivers.

[countrydummy]

ping!!!!

[farmfriend]

The more the trees grow, the more water they suck up. The Sierra Nevada range alone is so over grown that water shed has dropped something like 12% in the last century. Of course the report that gave the figures attributed it to global warming but the fact remains, we have more trees and less water. Not hard to see the connection, unless you are an eco-nut.

[countrydummy]

Yeah, me too! This is so much junk!

[Willie Green]

This says it all. I stopped reading about here.

Why? The quality of our nation's water supply is a serious issue.
The eco-weenies may exploit that issue to bizarre extremes,
but it is an issue that needs to be addressed nonetheless.

[TopQuark]

That's what gives away these people: The U.S. average of 1,300 gallons per day is some 60 times the average for many developing countries, according to the World Water Council, with some 85 percent used to for irrigation.

Why should Zimbabwe be a reference point for U.S.?

A related discovery: a hardworking person expends 10 times more energy and other resources than a lazy bum.

The "environementalists" just can't wait until we become a regular third-world country --- poor, miserable, and socialist.

[zygoat]

Don't worry, If it gets that bad again, they can always pull out the incredible inflatable rubber dam. I believe you know what I'm refering to.I was willing to drive 25 miles to see the thing, but I hope Frederick will never really have to use it.

[bigfootbob]

"The more the trees grow, the more water they suck up"

Have chainsaw-Will Travel!

[rellimpank]

--amen, brother----

[countrydummy]

Of course you know better than to dare think I am a eco-nut! LOL! Now, yes, the over-growth "went wild" of the trees is a real problem......they need cut down! Dah!

I so believe that water should be used for cattle and farming and familes first! If big hotels and spas and carwashes have to limit.....ah dah, so be it! But not our cattle, homes, hogs, corn, wheat....etc.! Agriculture lands and ranches feeds this nation! Damn a swimming pool or washing the car over food! Damn a bunch of "sucker" trees that sponge and destroy the good trees and die becaue of their own over-growth that adds to catastrophic forest fires that result in "sterile grounds" that once the rains do come, will pollute the waters and streams and watersheds that much more! Worse!

Don't get me on my soapbox! You don't want none of this! lol lol

[Delphinium]

World Water Council

Another UN program.

[RicocheT]

Here in the upper Mid-West we have an abundance of rain and water. Our rivers and lakes are full. My backyard is a seasonal swamp as is my basement if the sump pump stops.

If the water winers want to ration water, do it only in the parts of the US that are traditionally dry. We are tired of having to buy water saver toilets that need 2 flushes or taking showers under shower heads that ration the spray.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

I am not sure what in my statement you think that a picture a dry river contradicts.

[countrydummy]

Exactly! It is either too much water or too little water...all driven forces to control land......meaning private property and thus stripping All Americans of their basic underlying inaleinable right!

[rellimpank]

--for starters, within ten years avery drop of water used in Commiefornia from San Francisco to Los Angeles should be either recycled sewage or desalinized with power from nukes--

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[NJ Freeper]

These people are never satisfied. Here in NJ last year they were complaining about drought conditions, this year it's flood conditions. No matter what they'll always be whining.

Blackdog is right, water is the ultimate renewable resource. All fresh water in the rivers comes from rain or snowmelt, which comes from clouds, which comes from the evaporation of ocean water. Rivers flow back into the ocean. It's a perfectly complete cycle.

Alberta's Child's post about available clean water and polluted water is correct also. The problem is that these rivers, after being polluted years ago are starting to make a comeback, all of the polluted materials have been buried by new, clean sediment.

But the enviro-wackos want to dredge up all the polluted materials (The Hudson River is a perfect example of this). This will stir up the hazardous materials and make the rivers polluted again for a matter of years.

They should just leave them as they are. If they were going to dredge them they should have done it years ago.

[expatpat]

You're right. The more water is pumped out of the ground, the more there is in the world to use. Of course, some of it is moved to other parts of the planet.

However, water taken from the ground used for drinking, washing, and toilets goes back into nearby rivers via water-treatment plants or into the nearby ground via septic systems. Some of the water used on farms, lawns, an golf courses goes into the air and ends up elsewhere.

The use of ground water at a faster rate than it is replenished (eg. Arizona) is of course a foolish policy.

[activationproducts]

No one is saying that it is being used up. It is a matter of water being where you need it when you need. The water cycle is a function of time as are your water needs.

[shotgun]

Junk sceince is rewarded by the federal government that pays more for the poltically correct answer than for the truth.

The level of Klamath Lake was at an all time record high in 2001. It was kept this way to protect the sucker fish. However, it was a known fact that the suckers were suceptible to water depth and resulted in a larger fish kill than normal.

In other words the deeper the water the greater the pressure, the more fish died.

I was the project engineer that moved the Lost River Diversion Channel away from the south end of the Klamath Falls Airport runway that year for increased aircraft safety.

Our biggest hurdle to overcome was from the State Historical Society, that had issued a determination that because the canal (read earthen dikes)which was completed in 1949, was older than 50 years and therefore it should be preserved and left untouched.

50 year old dirt is now protected as historic!