America's Most Endangered Rivers - (Page 9) Reduce Per Capita Water Consumption To ensure that we have enough water to go around, even during times of scarcity, we must be smarter and more efficient about how we use water. Unfortunately, many communities assume that new reservoirs are the only option for increasing water supplies, that large centralized projects are worth the enormous expense, and that the loss of free flowing rivers is a price we must pay to have enough water. Reservoirs will be even less effective in a warming climate, as higher temperatures will increase losses to evaporation. There are better ways to manage our water resources. As with energy, efficiency should be the first principle applied to water resources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new WaterSense Program, modeled after the successful EnergyStar labeling system, will provide national water efficiency standards and will help the public select water-efficient products. Replacing older toilets with high efficiency models could save 900 billion gallons of water a year — enough to supply 10 million homes. While domestic water efficiency can help buffer against droughts, agricultural and industrial water use must also be addressed. Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of water consumption in this country and more than 90 percent in arid western states. There have been some increases in agricultural water use efficiency, but there is still great room for improvement. As we increase water efficiency, some of the water savings need to be returned to the rivers so that they can be resilient in the face of a changing climate, remain healthy and provide their many benefits. Wildlife and ecosystems have evolved to depend on a range of flows, and their survival will be in jeopardy if river flows are always kept at a bare minimum. Increasing effi- ciency and boosting river flows will provide a buffer that will enhance human and ecosystem resilience and ensure healthy watersheds and adequate water supplies even during droughts. Improve the Quality and Mix of Infrastructure Throughout much of American history, rivers have been treated as problems that must be “solved” through large-scale engineering projects. As a result, rivers have been clogged with dams, straightened and channelized, severed from their floodplains or even buried underground. Unfortunately, these approaches have often exacerbated the very problems they were meant to solve. For example, despite spending more than $25 billion on federal levees and dams, national flood losses continue to rise. A similar pattern is evident for wastewater treatment. Rather than treating pollution at its source, we have often opted for complex and expensive treatment systems or have ignored the problem and used rivers as a dumping ground for untreated waste. When it comes to floods, tra- ditional “hard” infrastructure should be the last line of defense. Engineered solutions can be very costly and inflexible, responding to a very narrow range of anticipated conditions. Rather than building new levees and reservoirs, we need to restore wetlands, remove incentives for floodplain development, and allow rivers to follow natural, meandering channels. Napa, California solved flooding problems by restoring their river to its natural floodplain, and the city has saved lives and money in the process. Other communities have used rain gardens and green roofs to retain stormwater and reduce the need for costly sewer expansion projects. Investment in hard infrastructure will still be needed in coming years as old projects reach the end of their lifespans. However, it is essential that we develop a mix of traditional and green approaches. HOPE FOR THE FUTURE In the coming decades we face a warming climate and an uncertain future. But there is hope. We have tried-and-true tools at our disposal that can help us adapt. We also know what needs to be done to stop global warming from reaching catastrophic levels. Our limitations are not technical, but political. The real challenge is to find the will to make it happen in time. A M E R I C A’ S M O S T E N DA N G E R E D R I V E R S T M : 2 0 0 8 E D I T I O N | W W W. A M E R I C A N R I V E R S . O R G 9 TOLEDO ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL NAPA FLOOD AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT http://www.americanrivers.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.