Preview: America's Water Crisis

By: Mark Strassmann
Topics: Sneak Preview

(CBS)

Mark Strassmann is a CBS News correspondent based in Atlanta.

"Whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting about." — Mark Twain

As we enter a new decade, water is the new oil: the scarce resource worth fighting over. In arid parts of the world, the fight for water has always been a fight for survival. One-third of the world's population lives where their water supply is either a stress or a crisis.

Water Crisis Preview Clip

But that fight now hits closer to home, to Main St. U.S.A. In various parts of America, a combination of growth and drought, waste and mismanagement, has put shrunk our water resources and put competing interests at each other's throats. In the southeast, Georgia, Florida and Alabama are slugging it out in federal court over access to the waters of Lake Lanier outside Atlanta. In the Midwest, states around the Great Lakes have signed an alliance, telling everyone else to keep their hands off Great Lakes water. But the deepest crisis is where water is scarcest, in the arid southwest. Las Vegas has two-million thirsty residents. 90 percent of its drinking water comes from nearby Lake Mead. The lake's water levels are plunging, and one study estimated that there's a fifty-fifty chance the lake could go dry by 2021.

CBS Reports: Where America Stands

Pat Mulroy is general manager of the Southern Nevada Water District, and one of Nevada's most powerful and controversial public officials. She has aggressively sought out new sources of water to help fuel the record growth of Las Vegas. But she also preaches conservation, curbing waste, breaking people's bad water habits.

But it's a struggle. Mulroy says people by nature are "selfish when it comes to water." Nobody will begin on this journey until they absolutely have to change. It's just human nature. People hate change."

But often in a crisis, people do finally change. Las Vegas is at the crisis point. And some sweeping conservation measures there have been surprisingly effective. More surprising is the number of other areas in America that could face the same water worry. And in many of those areas, the use and waste of water goes on as though the taps will never run dry.

On tonight's CBS Evening News, our special series "Where America Stands"will look at the growing gap between our demand and supply of water. We'll give you a sense of what's at stake for you. And we'll tell you whether there's room for hope, or whether Mark Twain's observation about whisky and water will be more true than ever in the decade ahead.

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by Donaldlynn January 8, 2010 7:05 PM EST

Al Gore is saying that ice caps are melting and we are going to be flooded. You're saying we're running out of water. Who are we to believe????

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by taooflizzy January 12, 2010 7:20 PM EST: This is about our dwindling Ground Water supply, which is where most of our potable water comes from. The cost and energy involved in taking water from the Ocean, desalinating it, and moving it for consumptive use is not only prohibitive, but ridiculous when we can each make efficient choices that will sustain our needs and those of future generations.


by Launce January 8, 2010 2:58 PM EST: Pat Mulroy is an unlikely champion of "conservation." Last year she banned graywater systems in Southern Nevada. While the Las Vegas-area agencies have taken some steps to encourage conservation, Mulroy has capped spending on the most popular programs and ignored expert advice on how to trim the very high per-capita water use in Las Vegas. And last month, she decided to raise water bills much higher for conservation-minded minimal users over high-volume wasters.
Her charge that some water users are "selfish" relates to her effort to take rural groundwater from Utah and Nevada and ship it to Las Vegas to build more golf courses and foreclosed houses (for a community in population decline). Her scheme would desertify huge areas of the West and destroy natural habitat, Native American communities and rural economies. So take Mrs. Mulroy's comments with a large grain of salt.; Reply to this comment


by marcboyajian January 8, 2010 2:12 PM EST: We are finally acknowledging that we are facing a serious water shortage problem not only in Nevada, or California but in 36 states in the U.S. and many countries around the world. We need to discuss and educate everyone, young and old, to prevent a disaster. One of the many ways to solve it is Conservation. Luckily there are hundreds of sites on the Net give us ways to conserve. One other way is "Sprinkler Runoff Conservation System" Check it out. Details at: http://savonwater.com/waterconservationsystem.html; Reply to this comment


by outwestbutnotca January 8, 2010 12:21 PM EST: I never understood why it is so hard to only build what you can supply with sustainable water. Around here we have water rights, and if you don't own them, you can't build, period. It's called living within your means. Sure, it keeps developer money from lining politician's pockets, but isn't that what is supposed to happen? We did the severe shortage in California back when Jerry Brown was Governor. The water company told you how much water you could use based on the number of people living in the house. If you didn't use it you could "bank" it for future use. If you went over, the extra was like buying scotch. That plan worked. Are they hurting enough in Vegasa to make it painful yet? Bricks in the toilet tank? If it's yellow, let it mellow...... Submarine showers two or three times per week? If you have a lawn, kill it and replace it with something that doesn't need water. No fountains. No outdoor fish ponds. No pool building. Those are serious actions that work, but you have to acknowledge first that there isn't going to be a magic fix and get everyone on board.; Reply to this comment