"So buckle in folks on the gulf coast. I hope you heeded warnings. We sure don't want another Katrina where 2,000 lost their lives. But lets start saving some water. Soon, very soon, fresh water will be like gold. Not only here, but all over the world."
I will bet that ALGORE is breathing a sigh of relief. A year after Hurricane Katrina hit, ALGORE had his doomsday book and movie come out. Remember An Inconvenient Truth? With the hurricane coming out of the smokestack? Well, that book was the kiss of death for our hurricane seasons for over a decade. Thanks Al - you did the nation a huge favor.
Truthfully, many meteorologists and scientists have been getting worried that we have been in a hurricane drought. We have not had a Cat 3 or higher landfall in over 10 years. Well, the honeymoon is now over. We have a whopper brewing up right off the coast of south Texas, and this one has got some kick to it.
Because the steering currents are throwing us a curve ball, this hurricane is going to be an oddball - a deadly oddball. It might hang around by the coastline for a few days. And that - is not good. Hurricanes are only killed by two things - cold water or land. When a hurricane makes landfall, it usually starts the death watch. That is like I said, usually. If for some reason the hurricane makes it back to warm water, it is still "game on".
This Harvey is going to be a rain maker - maybe historic. I have addressed this issue before - many times. This country is starting to run out of fresh and potable water. That is a cold, hard fact. In fact, the world is. We can manufacture water by desalination, but that is expensive and we have done very well so far. We do not have enough fresh and potable water to satisfy thirsty states. And yet we do nothing. What more can we do?
For starters, we can re-capture and distribute excess rain water. That water is not only fresh, but also potable. How much water is going to come down with Hurricane Harvey? According to experts, anywhere from a half to a trillion gallons of water. And most of this water will end up as runoff, going into the gulf to be mixed in with salt water.
I saw a documentary not too long ago about the Moon landing. How it really was a wing and a prayer with the technology we had back in the 1960's. But we did it. However, in the year 2017, we still have states in our western region go thirsty when in other parts of the country we have excess water going to into the rivers and streams, eventually to end up in the ocean. If we can recapture just some of that water and redistribute it, that would be a huge help to states who need it.
So buckle up folks, you living on the gulf coast. I hope you the heeded warnings. We sure don't want another Katrina, where 2,000 lost their lives. But lets start saving some water. Soon, very soon, fresh water will be like gold. Not only here, but all over the world. Don't believe me? Do some research. It is scary for sure.
Since I reside 5-6 months a year in AZ, this topic is important to me.
ReplyDeleteI am on the budget committee for our condo association and we will have to raise our HOA fees by another 20 dollars/mo to cover the newly mandated costs of wastewater expense.
Next year the area will be looking at fresh water increases that could exceed 50/mo. This is a big difficulty for seniors on fixed income.
To your blog...........
We have to stop growing crops in places that aren't efficient and we have to stop growing water intensive crops in deserts.
We can't afford to waste water in irrigation systems that are 30 to 40 percent efficient. If we could get that part of the equation done, we could probably cut down the number of dams we're building by half, at least.
In Yuma, where we lived for 4 winters, the farmers laser level their fields, use technology extensively and hold evaporation losses to 4%. They produce 90% of the countries winter vegetable.
Greater efficiency would free up money to help provide clean drinking water and food to small farmers who, despite raising food, constitute most of the 842 million people in the world who go hungry.
Many of the world's poor live on less than 2.5 gallons of water per day – one-thirtieth of the daily usage in developed nations.
We must focus on improving irrigation for notoriously thirsty cash crops, like cotton and sugarcane, although they are seldom grown on the smallest farms.
Agriculture based on fields that temporarily flood (rice) is also a major problem because most of that water is wasted through evaporation.
I think we will develop better technology to catch and preserve fresh water in the next few decades, but one has to remember; there is a fixed amount of water on this planet.
Frozen ice, salty seas and surface fresh make up a finite pool of water. Making dramatic changes in this delicate ecosystem (contrary to 45's beliefs) will affect something downstream.
But you are right, if we could get that trillion gallons into the Ogallala aquifer, we could give the farmers of the Midwest new hope. As of now they are depleting the source at such a rate that Kansas, Nebraska, North Texas will be the next dust bowl within a generation or two (tops).
We are fortunate that we have some control over the Great Lakes. Lakes that hold 20% of the world's fresh surface water and 90% of North Americas.
The Great Lakes Compact was approved by all eight Great Lakes states, the U.S. Congress, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008.
The Compact bans the diversion of Great Lakes water outside the basin, with limited exceptions. And those exceptions must be cities or counties that touch the boundaries of the basin area.
I have to say it, EPA regulations being destroyed by 45 will put the entire compact into jeopardy, when and if they get around to it. Hopefully, 45's agenda and the lengthy response to Muellers investigation results will delay EPA action. But the sunflower fields of Kansas are going to want our water.
Good blog, hope to see more about water in future.
Respectfully,
David Gjerdingen