Report States That U.S. Getting Better at Water Conservation
Filed Under: Environmental News on November 6, 2009
The U.S. Geological Survey released a report last week that says that Americans are now using less water per person than we have since the 1950s. Most of those savings are thanks to new technologies and a national push to safeguard dwindling water supplies.
In fact, at our worst (1980), our population was also smaller by tens of millions, yet we actually use less overall than we did then. This may be too little, too late for some areas like California and Arizona where water has been dwindling and populations growing for a long time now.
Farming areas aren’t really out of the woods either, with most of the nation’s agricultural region having had over a decade of drought. This is again well-illustrated in California where many farmers are receiving less than 10% of their normal water “ration” and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland are fallow this year.
Many areas with plenty of water, such as the Great Lakes region, are positioning themselves to use that as a selling point to help dying local economies attract new business and industry.
Overall, it’s pretty good news so far. With the U.S. using at least 30% more fresh water than we receive yearly, it’s only a matter of time before those aquifers and resources begin to dry up.
Source: AP News
