Drip, dry? Is it possible that America's water sources could one day be tapped out?Across much of the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , the days of carefree water use are long gone. Take for instance Denver's Water World: The theme park sells cold soft drinks, but those who want ice in theirs have to ask for it. Why the hassle? Park officials discovered that giving ice only on request saves about 30,000 gallons of water each year--enough to fill two backyard swimming pools. Such water-stingy behavior seems unusual to most Americans, who are used to cheap, plentiful [H.sub.2]O. But more and more people are finding that the 341 billion gallons that the nation uses daily can no longer be taken for granted Adj. 1. taken for granted - evident without proof or argument; "an axiomatic truth"; "we hold these truths to be self-evident" axiomatic, self-evident obvious - easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" . Overuse overuse Health care The common use of a particular intervention even when the benefits of the intervention don't justify the potential harm or cost–eg, prescribing antibiotics for a probable viral URI. Cf Misuse, Underuse. , drought (below-normal rainfall and snowfall), water-wasting technology, and pollution are sapping the supply. Meanwhile, demand for water continues to surge. WATER WORLD How could a liquid that covers two thirds of Earth be in short supply? There are two main reasons, says Peter Gleick Dr. Peter H. Gleick (b. 1956) is a scientist working on issues related to the environment, economic development, and international security, with a focus on global freshwater challenges. He works at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, which he co-founded in 1987. , a water expert at the research group Pacific Institute: First, 97 percent of the world's water is saltwater--useless for drinking or nurturing crops unless expensive desalination desalination or desalting Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. techniques are used to purify it. Second, much of the remaining freshwater is either in an unusable form, like glaciers, or unevenly distributed due to geography and climate (average weather in an area over time). "The fact that there's a lot of water in the Great Lakes Great Lakes, group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, creating a natural border between the United States and Canada and forming the largest body of freshwater in the world, with a combined surface area of c.95,000 sq mi (246,050 sq km). doesn't help people in Arizona," Gleick says. Today, rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers (rocks that contain water) are equipped to supply freshwater to the country's 295 million people. But the population is expected to double by about the 2080s. "As populations grow, you're going to run into a limit to your resources," says Steve Vandas, a hydrologist hy·drol·o·gy n. The scientific study of the properties, distribution, and effects of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere. with the U.S. Geological Survey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information. A geological survey . SUSTAINING SUPPLIES To keep up with demand, U.S. waterways must stay clean. Just decades ago, waterways were so polluted with chemicals that one actually caught on fire. Thanks to tough antipollution an·ti·pol·lu·tion adj. Intended to counteract or eliminate environmental pollution: antipollution filters; antipollution laws. an laws like the Clean Water Act of 1972, many factories stopped treating rivers and lakes like garbage dumps. Robbi Savage, president of World Water Monitoring Day, says some of the most pervasive pollution now comes from household chemicals such as oil and pesticides. Reducing household pollutants can help. But we also need to use less water, says Gleick. "We can grow food, get rid of waste, and [run factories] with less water--without harming our quality of life," he says. "We're not always using the smartest tools to do the job. We still waste tremendous amounts of water." Read on to learn what's tapping your freshwater supply. DOWN AND OUT In 1999, the western states entered their worst drought in 500 years. Water reservoirs along the Colorado River Colorado River River, south-central Argentina. Its major headstreams, the Grande and Barrancas rivers, flow southward from the Andes Mountains and meet to form the Colorado near the Chilean border. It flows southeastward across northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas. have since dropped to half their normal levels. That's critical for the 25 million people in seven states who rely on the river's water. However, the drought has inspired millions of people to switch to using water-saving toilets and washing machines. The efforts have worked so well in Denver that water consumption rates currently are at their lowest levels in 30 years. POTENT POLLUTION Water pollution threats come from many sources including animal manure and chemicals. For instance, underground gasoline tanks have been leaking methyl tertiary butyl butyl /bu·tyl/ (bu´t'l) a hydrocarbon radical, C4H9. bu·tyl n. A hydrocarbon radical, C4H9. butyl a hydrocarbon radical, C4H9. ether (MTBE MTBE Methyl-tert-butyl-ether Surgery An aliphatic ether that rapidly dissolves cholesterol stones in vivo, introduced under local anesthesia via a percutaneous transhepatic cholecystectomy catheter, as a non-invasive method for treating gallstones; after injection, ) into groundwater in 49 states. MTBE makes gasoline burn cleaner, but it can cause cancer when consumed. Additionally, chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorus found in fertilizers and factory pollution regularly wash into the Mississippi River Mississippi River River, central U.S. It rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows south, meeting its major tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, about halfway along its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. . The pollutants deprive fish of oxygen. The result: a 7,000-square-mile "dead zone" around the river's mouth. HIGH AND DRY Explosive population growth around Atlanta, Georgia, is outstripping the water supply in the Southeast. This has triggered a legal fight among three states. Georgia wants to pump more water from the Chattahoochee River Chattahoochee River River, southeastern U.S. Rising in northeastern Georgia, it flows southwest to the Alabama border and then south, forming a section of the Alabama-Georgia and Georgia-Florida boundaries, to join the Flint River at Chattahoochee, Fla. . Two downstream states--Alabama and Florida--argue that the extra water removal will leave them high and dry. WATER HAZARD Burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, emits air pollutants. U.S. autos produce 8.2 million tons of nitrogen oxide Noun 1. nitrogen oxide - any of several oxides of nitrogen formed by the action of nitric acid on oxidizable materials; present in car exhausts pollutant - waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil a year. This, along with sulfur dioxide and other pollutants, makes acid rain. Precipitation--rain, snow, hail, or sleet--mixes with the poisons and slowly kills plants and fish. WARM WARNINGS Scientists believe that air pollution magnifies Earth's natural greenhouse effect, causing global warming (average increase in Earth's temperature). In California's Sierra Nevada, winter precipitation that once came down as snow now falls as rain. The snow used to melt gradually, delivering water to thirsty Californians during near-rainless summers. Now, the water runs into waterways at once, leaving less for the dry months. This year, rain fell in bucketfuls, washing out to sea. HOW IS WATER USED IN THE UNITED STATES? A. What percentage of water is used for drinking and home use? B. What steps could you take to stem the flow in your house? 1. Irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. : 40% 2. Thermoelectric power: 39% 3. Drinking and home use: 13% 4. Industry: 5% 5. Livestock: 1% 6. Commercial: 1% 7. Mining: 1% Source: U.S. Geological Survey WEB EXTRA For more on water basics and acid rain, visit http://ga.water.usgs. gov/edu/ PAGE 12 Drip, Dry? DID YOU KNOW? * Budget cuts make protecting waterways in the United States even more difficult. The proposed federal budget for 2006 calls for $369 million to be cut from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, reducing the amount to $730 million. * Around the world, 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water. Everyday, Americans flush 6.8 billion gallons of water down their toilets. * Each person in an average American household uses approximately 80 gallons of water each winter day. In the summer, the consumption jumps to 120 gallons per day. Showering, bathing, and flushing the toilet account for about two thirds of the water usage. CRITICAL THINKING: * Select an activity such as making dinner, using the bathroom, gardening, etc. Then, challenge students to come up with as many activity-related water-saving ideas as possible. CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS: ART: Create a poster that teaches your community why it's important to save water. RESOURCES * To learn more about ground water and drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. , visit this site from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and : www.epa.gov/safewater/index.html * This Web site from the National Park Service is filled with amazing facts about water: www.nps.gov/rivers/waterfacts.html DIRECTIONS: Fill in the blanks to complete the following sentences. 1. Besides water-wasting technology --, --, and -- are sapping Earth's freshwater supply. 2. Water covers -- -- of Earth, and -- percent of this liquid is saltwater. Saltwater is undrinkable unless it goes through an expensive process called 3. Burning -- -- such as coal and oil emits air pollutants. -- -- produced by cars, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants, combine with precipitation to create -- --. This kills -- and fish. 4. The largest percentage of water used in the United States is for --. ANSWER 1. overuse, drought, pollution 2. two thirds, 97; desalination 3. fossil fuels; nitrogen oxide, acid raid, plants 4. irrigation 
I think this article is very interesting. I love "the Free Library" because it porvides with most classics and magazines like this one (Science World). |
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