Water Scarcity - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 105

But these numbers are educated guesses. No one knows exactly how much water
Americans use because it often goes unmeasured. In most states, a landowner can drill
a domestic well without a permit and use as much water as he wants. Some states don't
require permits for commercial wells that withdraw less than 36 million gallons a year.
Few states require smart water meters that measure the volume of water used in real
time and transmit it to utilities—which is important to quickly detect leaks and waste,
and to help boost efficiency. Without knowing how much water is being used, it is diffi-
cult to manage existing supplies, or to plan for future demand.
Because we don't measure the water we use carefully, we use it thoughtlessly. The
EPA estimates that in the United States 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water is lost
to leaking pipes every day; industry uses inefficient cooling towers at coal-fired power
plants; homeowners insist it is their “right” to maintain water-hungry lawns in desert
states; while farmers pump down groundwater supplies to irrigate thirsty crops such as
corn or cotton instead of growing “dryland” crops such as nuts and fruits.
In the developing world—particularly in China, India, and Southeast Asia—rising
economic success has led to bigger populations and more meat-centric diets, which in-
crease demand for water. By the end of the twentieth century, virtually every accessible
source of freshwater on the planet had been used, diverted, or altered by man. Rivers,
lakes, and aquifers were drained, and at least half of the world's wetlands had been dam-
aged or filled in, which caused greater storm-water runoff and allowed salt water to pol-
lute freshwater aquifers. Humanity's nearly unslakable thirst is threatening to outstrip
the earth's ability to supply water in a sustainable way.
Borrowing from the notion of peak oil—a point at which the supply of oil is out-
stripped by human consumption—academics worry that the earth could be reaching a
point of “peak water.” While experts don't usually predict a massive hydrological apoca-
lypse, they point out that local water crises exacerbate many other social conflicts. They
warn that two major trends, population growth and climate change, will accelerate wa-
ter scarcity in coming decades, setting of a ripple effect of changes.
THE POPULATION AND ITS APPETITES
It is tempting to say that human overpopulation is the greatest threat to the planet's car-
rying capacity (the maximum population an area can support in a sustainable way), but
that's not the whole story.
By 2025, demographers estimate, global population will increase to nearly 8 billion .
By 2050, it will have risen by another 1.3 billion people. Water demand will rise expo-
nentially as the standard of living in developing nations improves.