Rogers, P. & Leal, S. (2010). Running out of water

 Addressing primarily a United States audience, Peter Rodgers, Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering and City Planning at Harvard, and Susan Leal, consultant and former general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, offer case studies of solutions to global water quality and quantity challenges. The authors begin the discussion with a picture of the water footprint of citizens of developed countries, which amounts to about 1,800 gallons per person per day (p. 3) when one includes food production, double the world average.  As populations increase, the pressures on water, a fixed resource, grows. Additionally, climate change threatens to reduce further water resources for areas of current shortage, such as California, a major agricultural producing region in the United States. The question arises, who manages water resources in the United States? The decentralization of water management at the local, state, and federal levels results in a lack of coordination, efficiencies, and high costs. Within the federal government, twelve federal agencies manage some aspect of water delivery or sewage treatment. To illustrate how managers at many levels and within different enterprises have found solutions, the authors present numerous case studies.

Water managers have implemented water saving measures by recycling water.  Recycled sewer water entails the process of microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light treatment. By implementing this process, Orange County increased its water resources, minimized the need to dump sewer water into the ocean, and eliminated some energy requirements for water transfers.  Singapore has adopted a similar program. In contrast, St. Petersburg, Florida in the 1960s, prior to the development of the reverse osmosis process, limited recycled water use to landscaping.

Farmers, the largest water user worldwide--more than residential, industrial, and commercial--has realized some agricultural conservation successes. Devices that measure soil moisture and distribute water more efficiently with a computerized system use a center-pivot system. "The center pivot is typically composed of one arm a quarter mile in length anchored to a rotating tower at the center of the irrigated plot, which is connected to a pump that draws the water from the well . . .sprinkling the water directly onto the crops from the moving overhead pipes" (p.52). The method conserves water and energy by not requiring  level land and the arm of the pivot moves via the hydraulic power of the water being pumped or electric motors, realizing water saving of up to 80 percent.

Water sharing and cooperation takes a number of forms. The Imperial Valley agreement (2002) between farmers in the valley and the municipal water provider, San Diego County Water Authority, has the potential to improve agricultural conservation and modernization as well as supply water to a municipality. Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin specifically, engaged in water trading. Under a water trading agreement, "farmers are allotted a certain amount of water that varies according to the sources of water and the size and location of the land . . . if a farmer needs more than his allotment, the Australian scheme allows him to buy it from another farmer" (p. 80). The authors concluded that "a 10 percent improvement in agricultural water use would free up more water" than municipal water users and industry presently consume.

Engineers who design sewer systems realize that aging sewer systems and inefficient sewer construction also cause waste. A remedy for the latter, the condominial system developed in Brazil, has gain appeal in under-developed countries because of the cost savings. Technology changes, such as the condominial system,  require an educated and engaged public to appreciate improvements and to accept innovations.

As important as the various industry applications of water, public sentiment determines the economic value of water and whether populations institute "programs that helped to bring us closer to our goal of protecting our public health, envrionment, and water supply for the future" (p. 155). The author explained the basic economic concepts that pertain to water---demand, supply, schedules, externalities, public and private goods, common-property resources, and others. Cases at the federal and municipal levels illustrate the operation of these concepts.

Industry has realized the necessity of improving their processes to reduce cost and minimize FOG, fats, oil, and grease clogging wastewater systems. Rrestaurants, companies, and municipalities realized  success by converting these materials into biofuels.

Internationally, two basic frameworks govern the laws controlling water, riparian rights and the doctrine of prior appropriation. One river as a shared resource between multiple countries mandates international treaties. The authors cite the cases of the Indus River, the Nile, and the Mekong River as examples of the complexities of these agreements.

The phenomenon of bottled water prompted the title of a chapter as, "water that lasts a thousand years"-- the time required, according to the authors, to clean up the environmental damage caused by the products' lifecycle. The authors pose the question, "what happened to the water fountain" (p. 217). In England the not-for-profit group, Drinking Fountain Association, seeks a revival. This and other grassroots, individual, and collective efforts, the authors contend, will result in adequate water for human survival. The public should demand more efficient and productive uses of water.

Rogers, P. & Leal, S. (2010). Running out of water: The looming crisis and solutions to conserve our most precious resource. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.