Peak Water
Louis Proyect over at Marxmail just posted this on “peak water.” Living in North Carolina, where we are experiencing our worst drought on record right now, and where residential cut-backs are touted as our solution, even as slaughterhouses, commercial car washes, paper mills, and agri-biz still suck the water out at a phenomenal rate… this one hits home… literally.
It would be great if people started to use less water at their home, but the statement, “best Foods has swapped its dishes for paper plates and foam cups,” is very scary – if everyone did this than all our hills would become landfills.
It is important to fully understand who is using the water so I have
attached an article from the US Geological Survey which gives some
figures. Using this data I have calculated that, for total fresh water
usage in the USA:Irrigation uses 137 Bgal/d: 39.6 percent
Thermoelectric power uses 135 Bgal/d: 39.1 percent
Public water supply uses 43 Bgal/d: 12.5 percentFurther, Public water supplies 85 percent of all residences. If it is
assumed that residences with private water supply (15 percent of total)
use roughly the same amount as a residence with public water supply,
then ((43 multiplied by 0.15) plus 43) is equal to:Residential water supply uses 49.45 Bgal/d: 14.3 percent
These are rough figures.
If people were to cut their use of water at home in half, it would be
equivalent to reducing Irrigational use by a less than a fifth.
Reduction in residential usage
eoinmonkey:
The lack of water is a worse problem in Americas bizarre fellow white-supremacist colonial state, Australia. This is a country which has less potablke water than any other similarly sized chunk of land on the face of the globe, and a rapidly (and deliberately) expanding population, but which somehow also manages to use MORE water per capita even than the notoriously wasteful USA (and, as above, industry is to a large extent to blame, although Australian households also use more per person than any other nation). Despite this, they dont even have filter beds to clean out their sewage, preferring to dump it into the ocean, and the majority of Australians seem to think it is their birthright to have a well manicured British style lawn out back of their house. Could this possibly be evidence of a serious denial problem? Recently the Prime Minister, John “Odious” Howard came up with a solution to the Vic/ NSW droughts destroying small farms and drying out the Bush for a record wildfire season: he told the country they should pray for rain.
19 October 2007, 11:29 amIt’d be funny if someone had made it up.
Legume Sam:
The groundskeeper of Pomona College tried to put pressure upon the Pomona College Natural Farm by complaining that the Farm caretakers were leaving hoses on, drip-watering trees day and night. Of course, this is cherry-picking; the College wastes far more water on grass than it does on the Farm. I have proposed that if the College really wished to reduce its water usage, it could replace some of the grass it grows with Queen Anne’s lace, which grows all throughout the nearby Angeles National Forest without any water supplement and is pretty enough to be aesthetically pleasing to the College’s financial donors.
19 October 2007, 3:17 pmStan:
Grass is more important than food. Incredible.
They must be the same people who are running half the homeowners associations in the country.
19 October 2007, 6:59 pmaudrey:
I’m all for taking out lawns, but Queen Anne’s Lace is a nonnative (European/Asian) invasive species, classified by the USDA as a noxious weed. I’d look for a different alternative that’s native to the region.
19 October 2007, 7:41 pmLegume Sam:
At least the folks of the Pomona College administration aren’t as stupid about ecology as they were five years ago…
19 October 2007, 8:33 pmLegume Sam:
Two questions for Audrey:
1) What does the USDA know about permaculture?
2) If the USDA calls something a “noxious weed,” despite its obvious beauty, how is that a bad thing?
STAN: I have a red flag up… maybe out of an abundance of caution. The question of native and non-native is one that has been the source of a good deal of controversy. Sam and Audrey have good manners; but for all of us in general, if this debate gets engaged, let’s stay principled and respectful. Permaculturists, btw, are often not overly concerned with non-natives… but I know a few people for whom this is a BIG issue.
19 October 2007, 8:56 pmLegume Sam:
I suppose we can find native plants for at least part of Pomona’s grassy knolls… I am, however, rather fond of “noxious weeds,” especially because they don’t need a lot of care and because some of them are edible and have nutritious/ medicinal properties… any suggestions?
19 October 2007, 9:28 pmaudrey:
There are some plants that the general population considers weeds, but actually are native to the region, and those I don’t have a problem with.
The problem with invasive nonnative plants is that they drive out native species that the local ecosystems depend on. I like how queen anne’s lace looks, but my perception of beauty isn’t as important in the long run as what insects and critters the plant supports. If it overruns an area, as it sounds like it has in the Angeles National Forest, the plants it chokes out in the process may be the only ones that other native species depend on for breeding, or for specialized food supplies. Biodiversity trumps looking pleasant to humans, in my mind. I suspect there’s a way, though, to achieve both goals, and I understand that prettiness factor is critical in gaining public support.
If you’re open to suggestions, I’d suggest contacting the California Native Plant Society and asking their advice. Here’s a link to the LA chapter: http://www.lasmmcnps.org/index.html
20 October 2007, 7:11 amMichael:
I was visiting my local park and they had a display of invasive plant species in the park including Scots Broom, English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberries. I thought if they really wanted to address the problem they should list the worst invasive species of all; Europeans.
Living in the Pacific Northwest in the Fall the drought problem seems very distant although I know intelectually it, or the water issue in general, is as important here as elsewhere. Our regional climate change issue that I’m obsessing on is the possibility of a crash of the Japan current and the resulting drop in average temperature. For those interested in a hard science fiction series on the subject (climate change) might want to check out Kim Stanley Robinsons current trilogy that starts with ’40 Signs of Rain’. Hope you in the SE get some soon.
Best, Michael
20 October 2007, 2:22 pmBela Berg:
I should think more than half of the homeowners’ associations thimk their lawns more important than others’ food. Northern Illinois had a bad drought 2 years ago and while even private lawns were subject to relatively(I must emphasize relatively) draconian measures, there was never a speck of brown on the golf courses. And all the corporate fountains in suburban Chicago went right on, well, tinkling. What do such water uses (as golf and ornament) get classified as?
20 October 2007, 8:07 pmBela Berg:
What can or should be done about non-native “weeds” other than not actively abetting their propagation? Should we go around uprooting Queen Anne’s Lace and making wild parsnip soup? Near where I grew up, there’s an 1840s cemetery that’s classified as a nature preserve and the QAL is touted by the locals as proof of the preserve’s pristine “prairieness.”. They (and til now, I) think that the plant is native. Oops.
20 October 2007, 8:16 pmJoaquin Bustelo:
I’ve never understood the suburban American obsession with lawns. It’s always seemed, well, bizarre, frankly. I mean, they spend tons of money planting, fertilizing and watering it. And then they spend tons more cutting off all the growth they fostered. And having the cuttings taken away so the soil becomes impoverished and requires fertilization. It just seems goofy.
STAN: Good to have you here, Joaquin. (:
As an Atlanta person, you absolutely have to get hold of Matthew Lassiter’s book, The Silent Majority.
20 October 2007, 9:56 pmaudrey:
Not propagating them is a good start. States generally regulate invasive plants because of the environmental damage they cause. There’s a $5,000 fine for selling Queen Anne’s Lace seeds or transplanting them in Washington State, for example. http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/noxiousweeds/quarantine.asp Here in Michigan it’s a misdemeanor with a $2,000 fine or up to 90 days in jail.
The remedies or controls for each plant depends on its habits. For Queen Anne’s lace, hand pulling (not so practical when it’s overtaken entire fields), and mowing before it can go to seed are recommended. And replanting the area with native prairie grasses is supposed to crowd it out, once the native (key word there) grasses get established.
Sorry to be wandering off the water topic here. In an effort to get back on track, for those who need a lawn to comply with those HOAs, I’ll offer up that native prairie grasses which tend to clump and have deep roots like wildflowers don’t need all that artificial watering.
20 October 2007, 10:06 pmJames M:
Fake turf watered as supplies dry up
“Hockey fields need soaking, officials say; Duke coach: We conserve at home”
It’s not even real grass.
But in the midst of what may be the worst drought ever in North Carolina, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are watering the synthetic turfs used by their field hockey teams.
At last check, this was the #2 story on Digg.com. Which may be somewhat comforting, to note that this wastefulness is at least getting some attention and recognition for what it is: Insanity, of a uniquely American variety.
22 October 2007, 5:01 pmStan:
Right here in my own yard (pun intended). Gotta keep the field hockey teams happy, eh?
As the Falls Lake and Jordan Lake reservoirs get closer to bottom, it seems, the pig shit in the lower sediments has begun killing off our brain cells.
They haven’t closed commercial car washes, much less slaughterhouses or paper mills, and we water astroturf. Welcome to the New South.
I’m putting down a bunch of mulch this winter, and I’ll be in the crawlspace soon to figure out how to put in a gravity graywater system. As long as Jayme spends in the shower, I’ll have the greenest illegal vegetable garden in the neighborhood.
Maybe I need to install a solar still by the driveway. We’ll be the Mojave of the Piedmont.
22 October 2007, 7:23 pmLinda c:
Have water – will share – If I could!
23 October 2007, 7:45 amSam Thornton:
Bela Berg asked about how golf courses are classified for water allocations. At all the courses I’ve worked at as a golf pro, the courses were classified as agricultural and received allocations comparable with farms in the area.
24 October 2007, 9:00 amBruce Dixon:
I live in suburban Atlanta. It’s rained so infrequently this year that we’ve only had to mow the grass three times since March.
Last few years I tried to grow a garden on my modest quarter acre, but due to this year’s lack of rain it didn’t seem with the effort.
Neighbors are trapping their bathwater to use for a fig tree and a few favorite plants. I’m thinking about what to do to trap rain water, and looking around to see if there are heirloom varieties of drought-resistant squash, tomatoes, melons and beans I can do next year.
24 October 2007, 9:38 amDeAnander:
Rainwater Harvesting
(Google for ‘rain harvesting’ for much much more).
A good basic overview
note that this interception and harvesting of rainwater runoff is what trees used to do for us, before we cut them all down; and what turf and long grassland used to do for us, before we ploughed it all up and paved it over. overpaving and overbuilding are typical of what Berry calls the human pattern of creating two separate problems, where before there was one seamless cycle. by overpaving and deforestation we create the problem of excessive runoff, violent flow which accelerates erosion; and we create heat islands (google for it) that disturb and intensify local weather patterns. this subjects us to intense shadeless aridity in summer and flooding and water damage in winter, with expensive engineering to contain and control water movement and irrigate dessicated plants to keep them on life support through the Dry.
trees and shrubs and grassland, mangrove swamps and wetlands, do all this conserving and taming of water for us, and provide shade, oxygen, food, and habitat for synergistic biotic communities. when we exterminate them — for convenience or to strip mine their value as carbon or construction material — we inherit the “problem” that they “solved”, which was never a problem until we barged in and smashed the elegant mechanism of the hydro cycle.
some factoids about water
just one tree can reduce rainwater runoff by 4000 gallons each year. the massive runoff that “requires” huge concrete culverts and gadzillions of taxpayer dollars is basically a symptom of Not Enough Trees. the huge costs we pay to design and construct culverts, drains. entire artificial rivers — using methods and tools, I hasten to add, which are fossil- and resource- intensive and thus require killing more soil and more trees — are the costs of the “service” those trees were providing for us, their symbiotes, before we liquidated them.
the career prospects of a flea that figures out how to kill its dog are not encouraging, let’s put it that way.
24 October 2007, 3:18 pmStan:
“Can you spell iatrogenesis, boys and girls? I betcha can.”
-Mr. Rogers
24 October 2007, 6:00 pmjimi 45:
We’ve been quite lucky here in north-central Florida, but the southern part of the state is another story. And still, the aquifers drain and an alarming rate no matter where you live.
Pakistan and India’s water issues are more precarious than those in the U.S., which is probably no big surprise to your readers. I’ve submitted an abstract to present on water issues in Pakistan (with my requisite Asian religions-specialization spin) at the TREEO Center‘s 2008 Water Institute Symposium here at the University of Florida.
Particularly in the case of South Asian Hindus who revere the rivers as gods and goddesses, one would think that they’d be alarmed by their destruction. Alas, they’ve been slow to respond. And after all, the goddess Saraswati is named for a river. The goddess still exists–she’s as popular as ever–but the river died long ago.
28 October 2007, 6:49 pmDeAnander:
Water, Guns, and Green Militarism? Feldman at Counterpunch this day:
1 November 2007, 7:42 pmStan:
I live in the middle of this; and yet there has been no public discussion of graywater systems here. I talk about it with people, and when one explains it, the first thing people say (which is indicative of the indoctrination we have to overcome) is, “Mightn’t that be some kind of sanitation hazard?”
There is also a raw milk controversy here, because it’s illegal to sell it for human consumption. All that libertarian value free-choice stuff goes right out the window when one intoduces the terror of the biotic.
I see this in my own family. This intense germophobia. But all one has to do is look at advertising that is aimed at our consumer-identity (which is also apolitical identity) to see how much of it sets us up with fear of organisms, in order to sell us something to kill them. Add to that the long standing social stigma associated with being “unclean,” and you have the perfect recipe for incessant war on microorganisms… and even just organisms.
2 November 2007, 4:23 amStan:
And for more lovely news:
http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article3115537.ece
(Hat tip to Kim Ives for sending this)
2 November 2007, 4:28 ammetis seeker:
RE: Greywater
See also rainwater harvesting. In the beginning it personally took some convincing on my part as, for whatever reason, it seemed that drinking rainwater might be dangerous – similar to misplaced concerns people have with greywater. When in most cases it is safer than groundwater and without all the chlorine and flouride in municipal water.
The key is that a correctly designed system is safe and can be built with information readily available by just about anyone. The disconnect is that people only seem to trust something that been approved or designed by an “official.”
At the very least its useful for irrigation. Although keep in mind that the permaculture saying goes the cheapest and easiest place to store water is in the soil – which is why deep mulches and landscape shaping is so important. Multiple supporting systems are the key.
Anyways, see here for a great guide on rainwater harvesting (its specific to Texas but can be applied near anywhere)
http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/RainwaterHarvestingManual_3rdedition.pdf
2 November 2007, 1:39 pmDeAnander:
Pasteur was a wingnut, a monarchist revanchist who viewed “the people” and germs as similar pullulating masses of infection and danger.
The biophobic meme-plex he founded has been enormously powerful; it ties into other memeplexes synergistically, like longstanding masculine phobias about the messiness of life processes and the icky uncleanliness of females; European fantasies of superiority over “dirty savages”; technomanagerial fantasies of Progress; sky-father religious fantasies of transcending the physical to ascend into a pure and pristine ethereal realm, etc.
We are walking colonies of bacteria. They are not only our ancestors; they are us, we are them. When we declare war on the bacterial kingdom we declare war on ourselves, our own bodies.
2 November 2007, 2:58 pmDeAnander:
Tom Engelhardt asks the right question about water: what then?
16 November 2007, 4:25 pm