Glennon warns about diminishing water supply
Robert Glennon, the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, and author of the book, “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About it,” visited USU Friday afternoon to lecture students, faculty and members of the community about one of America’s biggest, yet unrecognized problems: the scarcity of water.
Sponsored by the College of Agriculture, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension, and USU Sustainability Council, Glennon informed students about America’s current water crisis. To demonstrate the seriousness of this issue, Glennon used Las Vegas as an example.
With all the new construction going on in Las Vegas, the city has become one of the world’s most popular sites. However, Las Vegas has only one problem, Glennon said, “and that problem is an acute one. Las Vegas has run out of water.”
In order to fix this problem, Las Vegas is beginning a movement involving paying people who live in Las Vegas $150 million to rip out their luscious green lawns and embarking a $3 billion pipeline in order to fuel the heart of the city with more water.
“When we think of water we think of it as the air, infinite and limitless,” said Glennon, “when in fact, it is finite and exhaustible.”
Glennon then went on to list other examples in which water has become scarce. Since 2007, there have been signs of the current water crisis. Signs such as Orme, Tenn., who had to truck in loads of water in order to survive, Lake Superior, whose water supply is so low that it can no longer carry cargo ships, and California and Oregon where commercial fishing seasons were once again cancelled.
Another major problem is the supply of groundwater wells. Glennon related America’s current ground water supply to a full glass and each well demanding water from the ground is like a straw in that glass.
“We are doing a really nice job of trying to exhaust our supply,” said Glennon. “With all the wells currently demanding water, the supply is quickly running out and no one is willing to withdraw their straw.”
“We humans have an infinite capacity to deny reality,” Glennon said. He said because we live in a desert it is reasonable to think that droughts are short term.
Due to population growth in the U.S., this drought proves much more critical than any other in the past.
“Where are we going to get the resources, including water, to support another 120 million citizens in the U.S.?” Glennon said.
There have been solutions presented in response to America’s water crisis, yet each solution has its own setbacks. Possible solutions include cloud seeding, in which silver iodide is released into the air in order to increase the amount of precipitation that falls, however, there is hardly enough scientific evidence for this to work, Glennon said. Another proposed solution is desalination, or the removal of salt and other minerals from salt water to make fresh water. However, this method proves to be very expensive and leaves the problem of what to do with the left over brine streams which are unusable and undrinkable.
Glennon said the solution lies in constant water conservation and a new method he is proposing. This new method involves finding an alternative to getting rid of human waste rather than just flushing it, as this wastes two trillion gallons of water per year.
“We’re looking for waterless ways to deal with human waste. The time is absolutely right to do that,” he said.
However, the water treatment plants for human waste aren’t working as well as they should, Glennon said, and can cause dangerous bacteria to infect the water.
Glennon said another step that should be taken is to increase the cost of water.
“Most Americans pay less for water than we do for cell phone service and cable television,” Glennon said.
Glennon’s proposal is that the amount of water needed for survival and to protect people for basic needs should remain free, as it now is in some states. However, for water that is wasted, the cost should be increased. By doing this, the human right to water is protected, but society is encouraged not to use more than absolutely necessary.
“We’ve never even looked at this as a serious issue,” he said, “but it is a serious issue and its a tough sell. Now what we need is the moral courage and the political will to act.”
Glennon was invited as part of the College of Agriculture month. Janet Anderson, associate dean of agriculture, said, “We felt that Dr. Glennon had some very provocative ideas that fit in with our theme this year, Think Outside the Tractor, and would help people think about issues that effect all of us.”
Glennon said he felt that it was important to relay this information to the students of USU because they ” are the future leaders of the country and … have the capacity to help us to prevent this crisis from becoming a catastrophe.”
Ag Senator Jen Major said, “It’s a topic that is very applicable to everyone and a great way to show from our college’s perspective that we are connected not only to the university, but to the community.”
Glennon emphasized ways students can contribute to combating the water crisis, such as the importance of not using a kitchen sink disposal, which can use 150 gallons of water each month. He also urged students to turn off their lights, as a single 60-watt bulb burned for 12 hours a day uses 6,300 gallons of water a year.
“These two examples are so poignant and are things that college students do, things that are easily fixed,” he said.
– allie.jeppson@aggiemail.usu.edu