Dear Editor,
We are constantly bombarded with messages, sermons and alarms about our water supply running short and / or running out altogether. The professional panic mongers are having a field day with this issue because they don’t want it to get better. This barrage of hysteria has become an updated version of Chicken Little and the falling sky. Lottsa talk and no action is what I see (and sadly) there are some, callously ignored or denied, remedies available.
The Colorado River Water user agencies, and governing bodies, including Cities, Counties and State all want some and many claim rights and all try to fight off any entity attempting to get any of the existing supply.
I have been active in water management, water politics, and water use studies for more than a quarter century, and I find far more resistance to change on the part of water users than any willingness to even consider doing something different.
There are some remedies that offer small but measurable benefits in capturing, and conserving storm water that is just allowed to flow on by with no attempt to capture it or delay its passage.
- There are devices called check dams, which are surprisingly effective in slowing the passage of stormwater for long enough that some of the water percolates into the immediate vicinity. These are very simple to construct, they are extremely inexpensive and not meant to be permanent. They are basically a short term, low-cost recharge basin.
- A suggestion I have made many times (and have been cursed and spat upon many times) is to simply outlaw turf grass completely. Turf grass is one of the number one water wasters in our arid southwest. This includes domestic lawns, golf courses, and government properties.
- Washing cars and cleaning driveways with the garden hose is one more water waster.
- Forty-five minute showers are also water wasters.
- Using your home laundry’s washing machine at full water capacity when you’ve only a moderate load is wasteful and expensive to your water bill.
Now here’s where I get accused of all sorts of nastiness:
- Reclaimed and very thoroughly processed sewer water to drinking water standards. This process is referred to by many people as “Toilet to Tap”. The technology is proven many times over and approved in many places. Even though many people gag and retch at the very thought, Many political personalities and celebrities have been video recorded smilingly chugging down a sparkling clear glass of water that was only hours ago swirling around in a toilet bowl. The Singapore water authorities have offered, for years, a bottled reclaimed water named “New Water”. Clean, fresh and healthy.
- Lastly, water desalination plants treat waters ranging from brackish to salty enough to float a human who is doing it just for fun.
The entire thrust of this commentary is to try to get people to think about possible ways to stop all sorts of water waste and ways to capture and retain what little rain we do get.
Please consider all the ramifications. If enough folks are willing to change, perhaps we will not run out of water.
Jack Hommel
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