America's Dwindling Water Supply

(CBS)  In its "Where America Stands" series, CBS News is looking at a broad spectrum of issues facing this country in the new decade.

Americans are the world's biggest water consumers. By 9 a.m., after showering, using the bathroom, brushing our teeth and having a cup of coffee, each of us typically has used more than 30 gallons of water.

After doing the dishes - 12 gallons per load - running the washing machine - 43 gallons per load - and watering the lawn - 10 gallons per minute - by the time we go to bed, we've used up to 150 gallons.

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By comparison, people in the U.K. use a quarter of that - 40 gallons of water a day. The Chinese average just 22 gallons per day. And in the poorest countries like Kenya, people use less than the minimum 13 gallons to cover basic needs.

CBS Reports: Where America Stands

Because Americans use so much, the report card shows water is an emerging crisis here.

"Water is overtaking oil as our scarcest natural resource in the world," said Steven Solomon, author of the new book "Water: The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, and Civilization." "And even we're going to find, in the United States as well."

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Scientists have never measured the exact amount of water available in the U.S., but they're concerned enough that they've just launched a new government study to find out.

Experts do agree: Demand is greater than supply. And 36 states face water shortages in the next three years.

Every day Arizona and parts of New Mexico use 300 million gallons more than they get in renewable supply. The extra comes from underground supplies which are not renewable.

The Problem
How much water's underground? When could it run out? No one knows. And clearly that is a problem.

Nowhere is America's water crisis more evident than Lake Mead, just outside Las Vegas. The city has 2 million thirsty people - and gets 90 percent of its drinking water from the lake.

This area has grappled with a decade of drought. All last year it rained two inches, half its normal total.

"It's the driest city in the United States; it's definitely at the crisis level," said Pat Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Water Conservation Tips

When full, Lake Mead could cover all of Pennsylvania under a foot of water. But since 1998, the lake's capacity has plunged more than half, down 5.6 trillion gallons, enough to supply the entire United States for about six months.

Locals call the white band on the canyon walls the "bathtub ring." It's a mineral residue left behind by Lake Mead's sinking water. It's more than 130 feet high all around the lake. It's a reminder how deep the water problem really is.

(CBS)

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Gail Kaiser's family has owned a marina at Lake Mead since 1957. But in 2002, water levels were so low, the marina's docks were landlocked.

"It was a wake-up call," Kaiser said. "We lived here for a long time, and you don't think those things are going to happen."

Kaiser said their original water line is a thousand feet from the water's new edge.

Since then, they've moved 15 more times, and later this month, the marina will have to move again.

Four miles from the marina, the Hoover Dam supplies hydro-electric power to two million homes and businesses in Nevada, Arizona and California. But without enough water pressure from the lake, the massive generator units there will stop turning.

As manager, Ken Rice checks the lake's level every day. There's a point below which the lake cannot go.

"From a power generation standpoint, our main concern would be an elevation of about 1,050," he said.

The lake's elevation has plunged to 1,095 feet, just 45 feet above the point that worries Rice.

Solutions
America needs solutions to its water worries. Las Vegas has aggressive water conservation programs.

Seventy percent of this desert community's water use is outdoors. So the local water authority pays homeowners to rip out their lawn and replace it with desert-friendly landscaping. Las Vegas also hired water police to patrol and issue fines to water violators.

On the Vegas strip, City Center is the new jewel, $8 billion of environmentally-friendly luxury including low-flow water fixtures, slashing water use by more than one hundred million gallons a year.

Party Promoter's New Cause: Water

The city's efforts seem to be paying off. From 2002 to 2008, the city boomed: 400,000 more people moved in. But water consumption dropped by 20 billion gallons.

Other regions are trying other solutions. Coastal states have built more than 200 desalination plants. By next year, San Diego's new one could convert 50 million gallons of ocean water a day into drinking water.

Eight states surrounding the Great Lakes are trying to hold on to what they have. They signed a pact banning the export of water to outsiders, even other U.S. states. But water experts agree: Conservation is America's best hope.

"Everyone has a piece of the responsibility," Mulroy said. "It is our individual behaviors."

Behaviors that are now slowly starting to change as Americans learn the real worth of water.

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[dexid]

we seriously need to reduce our water consumption for the sake of all our posterity, especially when so many industries are literally dumping potable water away and draining our aquifers that lead to severe desertification. In fact, Nevada and Las Vegas are just the beginning of an atrophy on our lands..why are golf courses still spilling gallons of water away when there is a water shortage elsewhere in the country?

The answer: technology has led us to such problems, and the only way we can do this is to use technology to get us out. We can't force mankind to lower our decadence, we can only form new innovations that can lower our water usage or increase water reusability. Reverse Osmosis is a great water reclaimation method that is widely used in other countries, but problems of proliferate water usage has to be addressed. *more readings here http://www.ampac1.com/index.htm*

Just an interesting read as I was researching on golf water usage that highlights innovations that solve technology caused-problems - http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/57427-UgMO-Advanced-Sensor-Technologys-new-soil-monitoring-system

Now that's what I call life-saving technology.

[DONNA_HOFFMAN]

It helps a lot that information are provided to the general public through you. Keep it up. water is really a problem not only in the United States of America, other countries are having trouble with it too. Water is even predicted to be like oil which will be scarce soon.

[D-u-s-t-i-n]

I'm glad to see that the mainstream media is covering this topic. Hopefully everyone else will follow suit. Unfortunately, most people will not change their ways until water shortage directly effects them. Maybe now people will start to think about their impact of their water use.

[cascadetraveler]

We need more national media oulets covering this water shortage/scarcity problem. Water resource issues are the next big crisis that the world will face as we duelly grapple with ever more complicated energy resource issues. Wether we want to admit it or not we will all be paying the pied piper of energy sustainability soon.

Larry,
water conservation tecnician student

[savewater]

I'm one of thirteen students who is striving to learn the importance of our water.We determined it is everyones responsibility to try to conserve water.Our world is rapidly changing in technology, but as we live our every day life we are overlooking what is so vital to us.There are communities out there doing the best they can to save and conserve water, but it takes funding which many do not have.My fellow students and I hope to find a solution to break the barriors which stands before us so we all can live in a peaceful environment. Thankyou

[Peter-D-L]

I have to wonder why people in the UK use less than 50% of the water consumption Americans do. What is it about our society that we use so much? And what causes us to throw our noses to the environment and create artificial environments that require vast amounts of water in desert lands?
Perhaps our western society would be more aware of their water use if we where forced to make our living from water such as the fishermen and farmers around the shores of Lake Naivasha and Lake Victoria which are also facing receding waters; instead of polluting our water with boats expensive enough to feed a family in Kenya for several years.

[mizuguy]

good show

[C_B_Love]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a currently a student at a Community College in Oregon studying for an AAS degree as a ?water conservation technician?. I have a BS in Geography with an emphasis on Water Resources.
First off, thanks to CBS for being the first mainstream media source to run a good segment on dwindling water supplies in the US. I was heartened to see some effort going into educating and alerting our citizenry to an issue which is well documented and known by water utilities, farmers, academics, and others across the nation and around the world who either work with this issue or whose lives and livelihoods are impacted by it.
While there is always room for argument about some of the data presented, the CBS segment was by and large quite accurate and up to date. A great book for the layman to become better acquainted with issues around global water supplies is When Rivers Run Dry by Fred Pearce (2006). For the US citizen interested in western water policy and conflict, try River Basins of the American West: A High Country News Reader Edited by Char Miller (2009). What these books (and many others) will show is that fresh surface water is over-allocated (more demand than supply) in ever increasing numbers of watersheds throughout the world, including the US. Add to that the groundwater ?mining? of many of our aquifers so that they are being pumped dry faster than precipitation and infiltration can recharge them, and the recipe for water shortages in our future becomes more alarming.
To some of those who are concerned that this is all a hoax, a government plot to increase your taxes, or nothing to worry about because rainfall is a ?renewable? resource, you do not have to look far to find a plethora of articles written about impending or current water shortages and conflicts over use (most likely some of these are in your own local area as well).
As the CBS segment pointed out, a huge, and without a doubt the cheapest, ?new? source of water is through conservation of what we already have. To continue to pay for development of more water supplies is a waste of our utility and tax dollars when we can have as much as a 35% increase through relatively simple conservation measures.

[NikkiBucholz]

I was happy to see the airing of Americas dwindling water supply. I am in water conservation classes and love to think America might wake up and get on board.It is a job for us all not us few.

[j_block]

The impending water shortage/depletion has been evident for some time, yet people continue to move into these unsustainable environs. Why? Answer: the pervaiding view of "not my problem" or "science can fix it" evident by cbs's inclusion in the piece of water desalination as a "fix" to the problem. Good luck, Vegas.