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Having lived in CO + TX (both states that get 'water restrictions'), never once did I worry about not having water to drink or bathe. They usually just ask us t

Having lived in CO + TX (both states that get 'water restrictions'), never once did I worry about not having water to drink or bathe. They usually just ask us to conserve water and not water lawns so heavily in the summer. Not really comparable to countries where you need to plan to acquire and stock water for your family for daily use.

Balgair 6y ago
True, but it seems like it's only a matter of time then. What can you call a chronic 20 year drought when it stretches to 40 years?
- seattletech 6y ago
  A liberal conspiracy /s
- DubiousPusher 6y ago
  Agreed. We don't know the consequences of pushing Mountain West aquifers the way we have. There is good evidence we are pulling out more than is replenished and therefore are incurring a deficit. What's more, we tend to think of the "West" as "won" but these states are mostly still growing as part of the American Westward expansion. A lot of Western State land only became easily accessible with the completion of the interstates in the 1960s 1970s and even 1980s. Therefore, the material abundance necessary for truly large scale populations to live in comfort has only come to these places in the last 40 years. This has caused a consistent population boom in some places which is not yet tapering and will lead to increased stress on these resources.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    Fortunately (except for lawns and the like) water isn't destroyed or lost. Cities can take the output of their sewer systems and put it right back into the water towers. No city does that today, but only because the thought grosses people out, the water is safe and clean enough that they could.
    - katbyte 6y ago
      At a cost, cheaper to just get fresh water I would imagine
      - bluGill 6y ago
        In the US at least if you are not treating it to drinkable the epa will stop you. Though where the epa tests is important, some times that means after it percolate through soil.
        Balgair 6y ago
        You do loose some of the bacteria, minerals, and trace elements though. But then again, those can be put back in with some ease. The problem comes when, like in Flint, the government decides to do really dumb stuff. I would not put it past some idiotic council to just pump raw sewage back into the water supply to save a dollar.
    - Scoundreller 6y ago
      I wonder if anyone has done an estimate of water losses in a home/day to evaporation (e.g. toilet bowl evaporation, humidifiers, drying laundry, drying dishes, etc.). R/O is expensive. Tons of opportunities in the average home for re-use. Can use that shower/sink/laundry/dish water for toilets. A selective automatic bypass system could save the (mostly soapless) water to replace plant/garden watering (though that’s evaporation!).
      - bluGill 6y ago
        A fairly large amount across a whole city, but compared to the amount of water run down the drain after use not a lot. Makeup water is needed for sure. However watering the lawn is one of the few that are significant enough to matter.
    - quicklyfrozen 6y ago
      We don't do it directly, but there are certainly municipal water supplies that are downstream of other town's waste water treatment plants.
  - scythe 6y ago
    >What's more, we tend to think of the "West" as "won" but these states are mostly still growing as part of the American Westward expansion. A lot of Western State land only became easily accessible with the completion of the interstates in the 1960s 1970s and even 1980s. On the one hand, this is true in a literal sense. On the other, there are as many people (~20M) in the SoCal triangle southwest of the Transverse Ranges as there are in the remainder of the Colorado and Great Basins (NV+AZ+UT+CO = ~20M) combined, yet we continue to ship water from Lake Mead and Owens Lake to Los Angeles. Improving the situation in California would take a lot of stress off of everyone else.
giantg2 6y ago
The aquifer under the plains states is expected to be depleted in the next 30 years due mostly to heavy agricultural use. So this could lead to additional restrictions or true rationing.

Balgair 6y ago

True, but it seems like it's only a matter of time then. What can you call a chronic 20 year drought when it stretches to 40 years?

seattletech 6y ago
A liberal conspiracy /s
DubiousPusher 6y ago
Agreed. We don't know the consequences of pushing Mountain West aquifers the way we have. There is good evidence we are pulling out more than is replenished and therefore are incurring a deficit. What's more, we tend to think of the "West" as "won" but these states are mostly still growing as part of the American Westward expansion. A lot of Western State land only became easily accessible with the completion of the interstates in the 1960s 1970s and even 1980s. Therefore, the material abundance necessary for truly large scale populations to live in comfort has only come to these places in the last 40 years. This has caused a consistent population boom in some places which is not yet tapering and will lead to increased stress on these resources.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Fortunately (except for lawns and the like) water isn't destroyed or lost. Cities can take the output of their sewer systems and put it right back into the water towers. No city does that today, but only because the thought grosses people out, the water is safe and clean enough that they could.
  - katbyte 6y ago
    At a cost, cheaper to just get fresh water I would imagine
    - bluGill 6y ago
      In the US at least if you are not treating it to drinkable the epa will stop you. Though where the epa tests is important, some times that means after it percolate through soil.
      - Balgair 6y ago
        You do loose some of the bacteria, minerals, and trace elements though. But then again, those can be put back in with some ease. The problem comes when, like in Flint, the government decides to do really dumb stuff. I would not put it past some idiotic council to just pump raw sewage back into the water supply to save a dollar.
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    I wonder if anyone has done an estimate of water losses in a home/day to evaporation (e.g. toilet bowl evaporation, humidifiers, drying laundry, drying dishes, etc.). R/O is expensive. Tons of opportunities in the average home for re-use. Can use that shower/sink/laundry/dish water for toilets. A selective automatic bypass system could save the (mostly soapless) water to replace plant/garden watering (though that’s evaporation!).
    - bluGill 6y ago
      A fairly large amount across a whole city, but compared to the amount of water run down the drain after use not a lot. Makeup water is needed for sure. However watering the lawn is one of the few that are significant enough to matter.
  - quicklyfrozen 6y ago
    We don't do it directly, but there are certainly municipal water supplies that are downstream of other town's waste water treatment plants.
- scythe 6y ago
  >What's more, we tend to think of the "West" as "won" but these states are mostly still growing as part of the American Westward expansion. A lot of Western State land only became easily accessible with the completion of the interstates in the 1960s 1970s and even 1980s. On the one hand, this is true in a literal sense. On the other, there are as many people (~20M) in the SoCal triangle southwest of the Transverse Ranges as there are in the remainder of the Colorado and Great Basins (NV+AZ+UT+CO = ~20M) combined, yet we continue to ship water from Lake Mead and Owens Lake to Los Angeles. Improving the situation in California would take a lot of stress off of everyone else.

giantg2 6y ago

The aquifer under the plains states is expected to be depleted in the next 30 years due mostly to heavy agricultural use. So this could lead to additional restrictions or true rationing.