Current water issues

Excerpt

FOR most of this century, abundant, low-cost supplies of high quality water have been taken for granted in the United States. Even in arid regions water has been inexpensive and available to support rapid, water-intensive development. Seldom has water been treated as a scarce resource to be shared among competing uses. Attention turned to water only when problems arose. And the problems that did arise were generally attributed to “acts of God,” such as drought and floods, that could be solved with another water project.

Water problems have become increasingly newsworthy in recent years, and they no longer are readily attributable to divine causes. Reports of declining groundwater tables, conflicting demands on water supplies, toxic chemicals in drinking water, polluted rivers and lakes, and deteriorating municipal water systems have become common in the news media. Complacency is giving way to concern and even alarm under a barrage of anecdotal evidence of water problems. Water is now commonly billed as the next resource crisis.

Are we really running out of clean water? Is the nation headed for a water crisis? If so, what can and should we do about it? To answer these questions, we must strive …