"H2O Woes"-Water Supplies Are Shrinking
Monday, October 30, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: It's all around us. In fact, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by it. Of course, we are talking about water. But while there's a lot of water out there, there's also growing demand for it and growing concerns about having enough water to go around.
Tonight, we begin a four-part series looking at water, called "H2O Woes." As Jeff Yastine reports, water problems are so severe in some places that water is being dubbed "the oil of the 21st century."
JEFF YASTINE, NBR CORRESPONDENT: It is literally the essence of life. Without it, people can't survive, crops can't grow, life becomes harsh. And as the world is already learning, it is a finite resource.
In some villages in China, townsfolk get their water from a truck that makes daily stops on the roads. Because of a combination of rapid development and drought, local wells dried up, farmers' fields withered, industrial businesses shut down and moved to where water is more plentiful.
And even in the U.S., access to plentiful supplies of fresh water is becoming a bigger development issue. For areas like South Florida. The region receives up to 60 inches of rainfall a year. Millions of gallons flow through the nearby Everglades, will millions more in natural underground aquifers. And yet, experts say years of rapid development have meant the region has reached the limits of how much water it can use each year.
JACK MCCABE, CEO, MCCABE RESEARCH AND CONSULTING: At this point, we have reached the maximum according to the state of Florida. In fact, they have turned down approval of the last 17 major projects submitted for state approval, due to the water issue.
IRELA BAGUE, VICE CHAIR, SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT: It boils down to growth, and the linkage between growth, and sustainable growth, and our water supply planning. I mean, in order for us to continue to grow, we must invest in our infrastructure and our water supply, and seek other alternatives to our water supply planning. Because the Biscayne aquifer, it's just -- it's as simple as how many straws do you stick in a cup before it dries out?
YASTINE: That appears to be a growing worry for scores of cities in areas that you would typically think have plenty of water -- Indianapolis; Madison, Wisconsin; parts of British Columbia; and Virginia. The story is similar in these and many other regions in the U.S. and worldwide.
PETER GLEICK, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, PACIFIC INST.: As populations grow, the pressure to find more and more high quality, reliable water also grows, and it becomes more and more expensive. But in addition, we are increasingly contaminating the water that we have, with agricultural wastes, with human wastes, with industrial wastes, and we have to spend more and more to ensure that the water that comes out of our taps is high quality and is safe enough to drink and to do the other things we want to do with it.
YASTINE: Conservation and recycling measures also help stretch the available supply of water. But efforts like this, the embankments of what will become a massive 55 billion gallon above-ground water storage system...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is intended to store water and capture peak flows in the wet season.
YASTINE: ...may also become more common as regions try to retain and manage the flow of water rather than let it drain away into streams and rivers.
MCCABE: So many of us have grown up with water sprinkler systems, water fountains, free water everywhere. And I think a lot of us in the baby boomer generation have just always felt like water was so plentiful, we'd never really have any problem or issue dealing with water.
YASTINE: Which means one thing: Water, no matter how plentiful it seems, is no longer a resource to be taken for granted. Experts say regions that manage water wisely will continue to grow, while those that don't may find their economies stagnating or worse.
Jeff Yastine, "Nightly Business Report," Miami.
