Water Wars – Coming Soon to a Tap Near You?
In my previous blog I asked if my readers if they thought there was going to be a water crisis.
Here on the tiny island where I live, we had a huge water crisis for the last 2 years.
Yet even during the crises, people continued to use water as normal. Some people were fined for using a hose instead of a bucket to wash their cars, and much was made of it in the newspapers.
Yet people still shrugged it off, saying “it’ll rain again soon”.
Yes, Jessica Yu was right to highlight in her film that Americans aren’t worried about water – but many other countries aren’t worried either.
Because I live in the countryside, we don’t get mains water piped in all the time. Instead, we get a small allowance each day, which is stored in a tank. Once that runs out, you have to wait for the next instalment.
It can be most frustrating, but boy it certainly makes you conscious of water use! I used to think I was pretty good at water conservation, but I’ve learnt a lot of tricks since then.
But if I move to a place where water is more available, will I use more water? Probably. Still not a lot, but probably more.
Yet the fact remains that even though I use very little water, my savings don’t make a huge difference in the overall scheme of things.
Agriculture and the textile industry use vast quantities of water, as do the luxury hotels on the island (although some of the hotels have their own water desalination plants).
What about the USA?
This is replicated all over the world. California had a state of emergency in 2009; there was mandatory water conservation in Los Angeles and in Austin, Texas in 2010. Atlanta, Georgia gets lots of rain, but its supply is so stretched it’s fighting an on-going ‘water war’ with Florida and Alabama.
Many Americans aren’t worried about water – but nor are most people worldwide
In tight times, we can all be quite good at minimising our water use.
But once the initial crisis is over, and water comes easily out of our taps, it’s easy to forget all about it and worry about other things.
And things can get dirty when it comes to water.
Water wars are fought world wide, and they’re not pretty. Once it moves from government level down to individuals, it’s even less pretty.
We literally can’t survive without clean water.
But as long as it comes out of our taps, we feel we’re OK.
Next: Water Privatization – Is it the solution?
If you enjoyed this article, please Share it with your friends (buttons below) – thank you!
You Might Also Want to Read:
Great Film with Erin Brockovich
Here in the UK we already have a hosepipe ban and it’s not even summer yet. Hard to believe we live on such a watery planet…
And let’s be honest, the UK isn’t exactly known for its sun – how amazing that there are restrictions already in a country which gets a lot of rain. Thanks for sharing that Peter!
Something so important as water you would think we would be more careful with conservation!
Sonya Lenzo
I suppose we all like to think we ‘do the right thing’ but we have a lot of other, competing concerns I guess!
Not only is there less water, so much of it is contaminated now. 🙁
Too true. There was a big effort which started in the 1960s in many countries, and things did improve, but we have gone backwards since the late 1990s.
Water is essential to our survival. I don’t think we can grasp the importance of it.
You’re right Margarita, it’s difficult when it comes out of the tap so easily!
We like to think we are rational animals … like as long as water comes out of the tap when we turn it, it is rational to think “no problem”
Lyle R. Johnson
Absolutely !
Hi Green Goddess,
Now that I live in Los Angeles and have lived in drought affected San Francisco as well as desert Las Vegas, I am very conscious about water and having enough quality water for our health and our families at any age.
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell – Internet Matchmaker
It’s a double edged sword we we live…on the one hand, we’ve never really had an issue with water…but I suspect that makes us careless with it.
Be Well.
Jc
I live in rainy washington and we have had water restrictions in the summer. I never understood it but now I realize that the population is increasing and restricting water on a personal level has never been pushed. I definitely need to do better on my part.
With Passion and Conviction,
Wendy
You’re not alone – we can all do better. I’ll be covering what we can do, in the next couple of blogs.
to me, unless it is rationed or excess use is billed, as long as it comes out of the tap, most will not pay attention to wasting water.
Yes, I agree absolutely!
Though I don’t live in California now, I was born and raised there, only having left a year and a half ago. The pattern in the state is drought every 7 years. Easily trackable. The crisis has gotten worse in that state because the water shortage is going nationwide (clearly, global from what I’ve learned on your blog). California experienced it’s usual drought phase, but other states, including Colorado–which supplies much of the state’s water–were in drought as well, compounding the problem. Will be interesting to see if the widespread drought trends continue.
Cherie Miranda
Thanks for sharing that information Cherie, that’s most interesting! It’s my personal belief that we’ll have more droughts and more storms / flooding in the future. (And sadly, the flooding doesn’t offset drought – in some cases it makes it worse!).
I have well water and have never thought about a shortage…it is something that woudl change my life dramatically.
[…] Water Wars – Coming Soon to a Tap Near You? […]
[…] Water Wars […]
[…] Water Wars […]
[…] talked about the global water crisis and water wars, it’s time to turn from the problems to some possible […]
We had floods last year in Australia. Yet, before there there was a level 5 water ban. No outside taps to be used at all.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Australia has an excellent reputation world-wide for being very aware of water conservation. A large country with large arid areas.