Blaming Mussels Won't Solve US Water Woes
Date: 01-Nov-07
Country: US
Author: Michael Christie
Gov. Sonny Perdue says the US Army Corps of Engineers has been allowing Georgia's water to flow to endangered mussels and other species in Florida and thereby preventing state residents from sprinkling their yards and hosing down their cars.
"I'm telling you, when it comes to choosing between mussels and drinking water for children, I'm about fed up with this mess," Perdue said after declaring an emergency this month as Atlanta's main source of water dropped to what the state said was a 90-day supply.
Environmentalists and water use experts say Georgia's water woes weren't caused by any endangered species.
The drought plaguing parts of at least seven US states in the Southeast has to do with exploding demand in some of the fastest growing areas of the United States, breakneck urban development that has paved over acres of natural wetlands, and poor planning by local authorities.
"It's very misleading when the debate is framed as people versus mussels," said Gil Rogers, a staff attorney in Atlanta for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
What politicians in the Southeast need to do is to look at the way "we're growing and whether there is water to maintain the lifestyle we all want," Rogers said. "Our political leadership has blinkers on when it comes to anything that might get in the way of unrestricted development."
HUGE CONSUMERS
Americans are among the largest consumers of water on the planet, as they are of oil and other natural resources. The average American uses 373,900 gallons (1.7 million litres) of water a year, seven times as much as the average Briton.
With climate change looming, Americans will have to adapt to a world with less water, experts say.
A 2003 report by the US Government Accountability Office found that 36 US states expected to suffer water shortages in the subsequent decade.
"These kind of extreme droughts are wake-up call moments," said Monty Schmitt, a senior water resources scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "(Climate change) is going to make a tough situation even tougher."
Streets will have to be swept, not washed with hose pipes; potable water may have to be restricted for drinking and cooking only and recycled water used outdoors; gardeners might have to tear out their favored rose bushes and replace them with less thirsty plants. And water companies will have to plug the leaks in their pipes that can account for up to 25 percent of the water used in many communities.
"The challenges are different in different parts of the country, but fundamentally it's about getting the mindset that water doesn't just come out of faucets," said Chris Brown, director of the California Urban Water Conservation Council.
"For the longest time we have tended to deal with water as a commodity ... if we produce more of it we can sell more of it ... and not as natural resource that needs to be managed."
MINDSET GAPS
Californians and residents of other dry southwestern US states have had to learn to manage their water as a precious resource, said Brown.
But Georgia and other states in the Southeast -- the wettest areas of the United States -- have done little about water conservation.
"It hasn't been a hot button issue," said James Heaney, a professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida.
Before declaring an emergency, the only serious measure adopted in Georgia to fight the drought was a ban on outdoor watering in the northern part of the state. Industrial car washes, golf courses and industry were exempt.
A plan drawn up in 2003 to manage water better in the Atlanta metropolitan area has been paid little heed. Similarly, a proposal presented last year to state lawmakers that would have required old homes to be retrofitted with water efficient toilets when sold never went anywhere.
"The realtors killed the proposal," said Roge