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Page 15 of 20
WATER
- “ The California water crisis is a preview of coming attractions, not only nationally, but globally. What you're seeing is huge metropolitan-area growth around the nation and around the globe fast outstripping water supplies.” Steve Erie, University of California, San Diego (Environmental Issues Fuel California, The Lehrer NewsHour, November 5, 2007)
- ·An epic drought in Georgia threats the water supplies for millions. Florida doesn’t have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York’s reservoirs have dropped to record lows. The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess. (Much of the US Could See a Water Shortage, The Associated Press, October 26, 2007)
- ·There is speculation that “water wars” may occur in the future as dry regions like the Southwest run short. Minnesota became the first state to approve a binding agreement negotiated in 2005 by the eight states and two Canadian provinces that border the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, called the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, that bans large diversions from the basin and requires each state or province to adhere to standards of water conservation and efficiency. It also requires them to observed a shared, regional strategy for preserving the lakes and the economy they sustain. (As US Water Worries Emerge, All Eyes Are on the Great Lakes, The Star Tribune, November 4, 2007)
- ·The Great Lakes already are having a very large problem with loss of water from drought and evaporation from global warming which has a huge impact on the shipping industry. (As US Water Worries Emerge, All Eyes Are on the Great Lakes, The Star Tribune, November 4, 2007)
- ·The entire Sacramento delta is under threat, which, because much of that water goes to Southern California where 2/3s of the state’s people live. (Environmental Issues Fuel California’s Water Wars, Lehrer News Hour, PBS, November 5, 2007)
- ·The delta is the hub of California’s water system and they have hit the limits of water that can be taken from it. (Environmental Issues Fuel California’s Water Wars, Lehrer News Hour, PBS, November 5, 2007)
- ·The reduction of watering crops because of high water costs even before the current crisis has also damaged agriculture in Southern California so this also affects the state’s economy. Governor Schwarzenegger has sa id that if California has another dry season like this next year, it will be catastrophic, a disaster. If the Delta breaks down, people won’t have water all over California. (Environmental Issues Fuel California’s Water Wars, Lehrer News Hour, PBS, November 5, 2007)
- ·The California water crisis is a preview of what is to come nationally and globally as huge metropolitan-area growth around the nation and the globe is rapidly outstripping water supplies. California is the “canary in the mine.” (Environmental Issues Fuel California’s Water Wars, Lehrer News Hour, PBS, November 5, 2007)
- “If our municipal water supplies shut off, we couldn’t survive on the local water resources that we have,” said Dr. Peter Gleik, president of the Pacific Institute, the Oakland, CA-based water policy think tank. “They depend on our bringing water enormous distances and treating that water to a very high standard so that we can use it. And if that water stopped, we’d have to rethink our whole civilization.” (Global Crisis Hits Home with US Water Shortages, Circle of Blue, November 2, 2007)
- Analysts say more than $26 billion are needed to clean up and protect the Great Lakes water supply. (Global Crisis Hits Home with US Water Shortages, Circle of Blue, November 2, 2007)
- Globally the UN estimates that 2/3s of the world’s population will live in areas of water stress within the next 20 years and that 5 million people die each year due to contaminated drinking water. (Global Crisis Hits Home with US Water Shortages, Circle of Blue, November 2, 2007)
- The West’s natural water-delivery system is breaking down under the strain of rising temperatures with mountain-snow runoff down where winter arrives later and ends earlier. Not only is water run-off down, but this has effected the way water is stored and released from reservoirs. In this delicate balance when water supplies shrink, forests and other wildlife habitat are weakened, wildfires grow and hydroelectric power production suffers. In fact this is happening, an example being the decreased power-generating capacity at Glen Canyon Dam as water levels have dropped in Lake Powell. So it becomes a question of protecting water supplies in the lakes formed by these dams or releasing the water to produce power. (Source of Water for West at Risk, The Arizona Republic, November 26, 2007)
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