Drought as recorded in snowfall on Half-dome in Yosemite Valley on March 19 of 2012 and 2015.
There was certainly no shortage of water in the Northeast this winter. Boston and several other communities saw record snowfall. But in other parts of the North America, a swinging jet stream exacerbated an already dire prolonged drought, stretching the breadth of the entire Southwest, from California to Texas. Even parts of the Midwest bread basket are thirsty.
There are two factors driving the drought: growth, and climate change. As the population increases, demand on surface water and aquifers grows relentlessly. The dipping, winding jet stream, a phenomenon tentatively linked to amplified warming of the Arctic, denies water to much of the western half of the US while dropping more than needed further east. It's a fair prediction that there will be no relief in terms of reduced population growth or mitigating changes in climate anytime soon. But we don't have to count on lucky rainstorms to relieve water shortages. There are other solutions.
David Foster is the State Director of Clean Water Action based in Austin, Texas. There are dozens of other offices across the country. I had a chance to chat with him about the problem and what solutions are within the power of local communities to embrace.
Those answers and more below the fold.
Foster began with, "Austin is often compared with Seattle and it's an comparison that makes sense in some ways. But most people would think of Seattle as far wetter, more of a rainforest, than the more arid southwest."
"Actually, Austin on average gets -- or used to get -- almost as much annual rainfall as Seattle, but Seattle's rainfall is more evenly distributed throughout the year. Austin, especially with drought, tends to get its rainfall in far fewer, more violent storms. And new research suggests this pattern is strengthening.
"So what happens now is rainwater, especially in heavy rains, gets sucked up by the dry ground and doesn't percolate slowly through the soil to nearby creeks. Or it hits impervious surfaces like parking lots and rooftops and rushes off through storm drains into local creeks and rivers, causing flooding and erosion. One of the first step s in permanently adjusting to growth and drought is slowing down, capturing and storing some of that water."
There are plenty of working and proposed ways of hanging on to more rainwater. One of the most obvious are rain gardens. Not unlike the popular water gardens adorning the yards of upscale homes in the Southwest, the reservoirs can be built in at the local neighborhood level. One step further in design efficiency could see water reservoirs slightly below ground, where they are recharged by semi-permeable roads and sidewalks.
A home in Avery Ranch, a neighborhood in far North Austin. The yard is all native and requires no watering. Image courtesy of Bob Beyer and Clean Water Fund
Another easy measure is just basic conservation. Around the nation, it's not unusual for about half the water budget for an average middle-class household to go to irrigation—we're talking lawns mostly. In drought-stricken areas like California and Texas, that number has gone down due to watering restrictions. But taking advantage of native plants that thrive in arid conditions is a smart move for new homeowners, or existing ones thinking of making a change. Part and parcel to conservation is getting the go-ahead to use water more than
once.
Foster explains, "Gray-water we call it. Water that's been down the drain once, that doesn't leave the house or get treated, that water could be used for something else like flushing the toilet."
Drought has always affected people of course, weather in general battles only with disease as the number one historical killer of human beings. In some parts of the world we take water for granted. In other parts, like Syria, drought may have already set events in motion that will not end until blood has been spilled from sea to sea. Even here in Austin, the drier region that defines the eastern edge of the great Southwest may be moving farther east. Residents across the region may soon have to accept drought as a way of life, and that means examining and implementing solutions for it in advance.
Foster concluded with "To put it in context, this drought in Austin is now approaching the historical dry run of the 1950s, the longest, most-damaging drought in the region's history. "We can either be conserve and plan now, or face the possibility of full-blown water rationing, or big expensive bond projects with higher taxes, or skyrocketing water bills. And this same dynamic is playing out all over the US and in many parts of the world right now."
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David Foster is the Texas State Director for Clean Water Org and will be available in comments for a few minutes if anyone has any questions or concerns. Or contact him through the Clean Water Action website.