Water Consumption

VALU 191 The Environment & Society

Needs
Lets look at one resource and see how population, growth, and development affect that resource. The resource we will look at is
Water consumption

Water Consumption
High levels of water use cause both environmental and economic problems.
On the environmental side, high consumption places stress on rivers, lakes and groundwater aquifers and may require dams and flooding with serious ecological impacts. Also, the discharge of polluted water once it has been used damages aquatic ecosystems.

Water Consumption
On the economic side
High levels of water use require everincreasing and expensive investments in water system infrastructure needed to gather, deliver and dispose of water (dams, reservoirs, water treatment facilities, distribution networks and sewage treatment).

Water Use Statistics, U.S.

Daily indoor per capita water use in a typical single family home is 69.3 gals. Here is a break down: Use Gal/Capita % of Total Daily Use
Showers Washers Dishwashers Toilets Baths Leaks Faucets Other Uses 11.6 15.0 1.0 18.5 1.2 9.5 10.9 1.6 16.8% 21.7% 1.4% 26.7% 1.7% 13.7% 15.7% 2.2%

Source: American Water Works Association

Water Statistics, U.S.

The previous slide says that the daily indoor per capita water use is 69.3 gallons That means that every person uses 69.3 gal of water/day for indoor use. If you had a family of 4, this would be
69.3 x 4 = 277.2 gallons of water/day

For a family of 4 for a year, this would be

277.2 x 365 = 101,178 gal per year (indoor)

Water Statistics, U.S.

The American Water Works Association estimates:
Average household water use annually: 127,400 gallons Average daily household water use : 350 gallons

Source: American Water Works Association

Water Statistics
By installing more efficient water fixtures and regularly checking for leaks, households can reduce water use by about 35% to about 45.2 gallons per day per person If all U.S. households installed water-saving features, water use would decrease by 30 percent, saving an estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day.
This would result in dollar-volume savings of $11.3 million per day or more than $4 billion per year.
Source: American Water Works Association

Brief History of Drought, U.S.

The Dust Bowl drought was a natural disaster that severely affected much of the U. S. during the 1930s.
The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 193940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years. The "dust bowl" effect was caused by sustained drought conditions compounded by years of land management practices that left topsoil susceptible to the forces of the wind.
Source: American Water Works Association

Brief History, continued

During the 1950s, the Great Plains and the southwestern U.S. withstood a 5 year drought, and in 3 of these years, drought conditions stretched coast to coast. The three-year drought of the late 1980s (19871989) covered 36% of the U.S. at its peak.
The drought, beginning along the west coast and extending into the northwestern U.S., had its greatest impact in the northern Great Plains. By 1988, the drought intensified over the northern Great Plains and spread across much of the eastern half of the United States.
Source: American Water Works Association

Brief History, continued

During the 1990's and early 2000's the southern and eastern parts of the country experienced multi-year droughts.
Prior to that many saw drought as mostly a western phenomenon. But when the Washington DC area, New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and New England experienced severe droughts it became a national issue - not just a western one.

Source: American Water Works Association

Drought Prediction & Monitoring

Scientists generally don't know how to predict drought more than a month in advance for most locations. Predicting drought depends on the ability to forecast two fundamental meteorological surface parameters, precipitation and temperature.

Source: American Water Works Association

Drought Prediction
We know that anomalies of precipitation and temperature may last from several months to several decades. How long they last depends on
Topography air-sea interactions soil moisture and land surface processes internal dynamics accumulated influence of dynamically unstable synoptic weather systems at the global scale

Source: American Water Works Association

Check the News

There are several parts of the U.S. that are having significant difficulties meeting their growing water needs due to drought conditions Arizona, Florida, Nevada (Las Vegas), California, Georgia, etc are all experiencing problems Some of this is due to unexpected dramatic population increases & some is due to long drought periods.

Climate Change Relationship

A lot of research has been conducted recently on the role of interacting systems, or teleconnections, in explaining regional and global patterns of climate variability.
These patterns tend to reoccur periodically with enough frequency and with similar characteristics over a sufficient length of time that they offer opportunities to improve the ability for long-range climate prediction. El Nino/Southern Oscillation is one example of teleconnection.
Source: American Water Works Association

Climate Change Relationship

Most climatic regions experience varying degrees of dominance by high pressure, often depending on the season.
Prolonged droughts occur when large-scale anomalies in atmospheric circulation patterns persist for months or seasons (or longer).

Source: American Water Works Association

Water Footprint
We use lots of water for domestic indoor use but even more for making goods such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. A water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as
the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.
Source: Water Footprint Network (Water Footprint and virtual water)

Consumption and Water Use

"The interest in the water footprint is rooted in the recognition that human impacts on freshwater systems can ultimately be linked to human consumption, and that issues like water shortages and pollution can be better understood and addressed by considering production and supply chains as a whole, says Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, creator of the water footprint concept and scientific director of the Water Footprint Network.
Source: Water Footprint Network (Water Footprint and virtual water)

Some facts and figures

The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water. To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water. The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country. The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.
Source: Water Footprint Network (Water Footprint and virtual water)

U.S. Water Withdrawal

Graphic shows the 2005 water withdrawals by category in the U.S. expressed as a percentage. Numbers were compiled and released in report by the USGS. They release a water usage report every 5 years. About 410,000 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water was withdrawn for use in the United States during 2005. As you can see, a lot of water is required to produce electricity using steam turbine technology.

Global Water Issues

There is no doubt that water and availability of water is directly related to the wealth and health of a nation Globally speaking, water availability has huge social, political and economic impact for a country The U.S. is a relatively rich country when compared to other nations but even we are faced with challenges in water scarcity

Global Water Issues

Global population is expected to reach 8.1 billion by 2030 and the need for food worldwide is expected to increase by 55 percent over 1998 figures. At the same time, we will need more water to provide basic sanitation, produce energy, operate industries and support growing cities.
Source: UN-Water, 2007 WWD

Global Water Issues

Globally, water supplies are being stressed by increases in irrigation for agriculture, urbanization and industrialization.
Remember our current global population is over 6 billion & that number grows every day

Agriculture
The ability to produce food is essential to reducing poverty and encouraging social and economic development. Irrigated agriculture accounts for 20% of the total cropland but contributes 40% of the total food production.

Agriculture & Water

Irrigation has
strained groundwater and surface water supplies weakened the quality and resistance of the soil with salt deposits and water logging reduced naturally-occurring plant and animal species

The agriculture community has to take the lead in meeting a challenge

finding ways to do more with less water and reducing potential damage to the environment.

Mans lmpact
Economic development and urban growth often damage freshwater bodies with increased pollution. Sewage runoff can also damage freshwater bodies & many poor nations have little sanitation.

United Nations

Water use has been growing at a rate > twice rate of population increase in the last century By 2025, it is estimated that 1,800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.
Source: World Water Day 2007, FAQ

One Resource Many Issues

Weve just skimmed the top of the surface of global issues associated with water consumption. Water is one resource that is not only necessary for life, but also in a large part determines the quality of our life. Water scarcity is a problem in many places in the world including the U.S.

Fact Sheet & Articles

I have posted some more detailed tables and information on water usage and withdrawal on the course web page under the Course Documents link. I also posted an article printed in USA Today about water issues in the U.S. You will need to review this information. Our first discussion assignment will be based on this information.