America’s water crisis discussed at USU
Robert Glennon will explain America’s water woes and offer a new approach to water conservation during his lecture, “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About it”, Friday, Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the TSC auditorium.
His lecture explores water problems across America. From Las Vegas casinos to agricultural crop production, Glennon will discuss signs that the nation’s water supply is in danger of drying up.
Glennon is the author of “Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters,” which was published by Island Press in 2002. His new book, on which his lecture is based and with which it shares a title, was published in April 2009. He has been a guest on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Diane Rehm Show,” C-SPAN2’s Book TV, and National Public Radio shows in New York City, Chicago and Phoenix. Glennon is also an occasional blogger for the Huffington Post and has published articles in the Washington Post and Arizona Republic.
Glennon is a Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, water policy adviser to Pima County, Ariz. and water code consultant for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Associate Dean of he College of Agriculture Janet Anderson said she has previously attended one of Glennon’s lectures and is excited to announce his visit to USU.
“As a water attorney, Robert Glennon is well-versed about water issues and water ownership in the West,” she said. “He provocatively portrays the ongoing problem and grasps the audience’s attention from start to finish.”
In his lecture, Glennon will attempt to dispel common myths about the water crisis and use what he calls “surreal and real solutions” to give real-life examples of how America is trying to solve the problem.
Examples of surreal solutions, according to his book, are cloud seeding and importing water from water-short to water-rich areas. One of the most important real solutions is conservation, Glennon says.
“Los Angeles gets barely three inches of rain a year more than Tucson,” he said. “Yet millions of southern Californians have lush, water-intensive landscapes. Surely the state can do better than that.”
He offers a variety of solutions to those who attend his lecture, ranging from encouraging conservation through the use of price signals to re-examining the role of toilets in our society.
“Approximately one-third of indoor domestic water use is to flush toilets,” he said. “That’s six billion gallons per day, or two trillion gallons per year. Toilets waste water, energy and money, harm the environment, and threaten human health.”
Tiffany Maughan, a horticulture major, said she will be attending the lecture to learn more about water conservation.
“I’ve always been interested in water conservation,” Maughan said. “As a horticulture student, everything I do involves water and since it is a limited resource, I have the responsibility to use it wisely.”
Glennon’s lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session and is open to the entire USU community, free of charge. The lecture is funded by The USU College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension and Sustainability Council.
To learn more about Robert Glennon, visit his website at http://www.rglennon.com.