United States Could Face Fresh Water Shortage – Scientists Say

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – There is no reason for alarm yet, but the situation is serious and recent reports from scientists are not optimistic.

According to a preliminary government-backed study it appears as if large parts of the United States will face severe fresh water shortage long before the end of the century.

Climate change and population growth are two major causes are likely to present serious challenges in some regions of the U.S., notably the central and southern Great Plains, the Southwest and central Rocky Mountain States, and California, and also some areas in the South and the Midwest.

Lake Shasta, the largest manmade lake in California, was at 36 percent capacity when this photo was taken in January 2014. A new study shows climate change plus population growth are setting the stage for water shortages in parts of the U.S. long before the end of the century. Credit: USGS/Angela Smith.

The result of this research is based on the examination of a variety of global climate models to look at future climate scenarios and how they will likely affect water supplies and demands. They also factored in population growth.

The study published in the AGU journal Earth’s Future the authors write that “continued improvements in water use efficiency are likely but will be insufficient to avoid future shortages. Some adaptation measures that have been effective in the past, most importantly large additions to reservoir storage, have little promise. Other major adaptations commonly used in the past, especially instream flow removals and groundwater mining, can substantially lower shortages but have serious external costs.”

The new study is part of a larger 10-year U.S. Forest Service assessment of renewable resources including timber, rangeland forage, wildlife and water.

“The new study not only provides a best guess of future water supply and demand but also looks at what can we do to lessen projected shortages,” said Thomas Brown, of the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Colorado and the study’s lead author in a press statement.

Scientists investigated how humans could handle the water shortage. They discussed adaptive strategies for alleviating projected water shortages, like increasing reservoir storage capacity, pumping more water out of groundwater aquifers, and diverting more water from streams and rivers, but none of these options is adequate.

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Increasing the size of reservoirs does not look promising for fending off water shortages, especially in parts of the U.S. expected to get drier as climate change progresses.

Further reductions in groundwater reserves and greater diversions of in-stream flows could help alleviate future shortages in many areas but come with serious social and environmental costs. If those costs are to be avoided, improvements in irrigation efficiency will need to become a high priority, and further transfers of water from agriculture to other sectors will likely be essential, the study’s authors say.

Brown cautions that people should not read too much into the report regarding their local water supplies. The new study models large watersheds and does not look at what will happen on a city or county scale.

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer