Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Great Lakes Basin Compact, designed to protect and conserve
Great Lakes water. The compact does allow for diversion to strad-
dling communities, but imposes certain restrictions. This was
the fi rst case in which an entity straddling the Great Lakes Basin
applied for a diversion of Great Lakes water under the terms of the
recently enacted compact, says Eric Ebersberger, water use section
chief for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. On May
21, 2009, New Berlin's request for additional water was granted.
However, part of the approval included a stipulation that the city
cut by 10 percent its per-capita residential water use by 2020.
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POPULATION LOCATION AND GROWTH
Cities, towns, and municipalities across the country face shrinking
supplies of water to meet growing demands. Unfortunately, popula-
tion sprawl hasn't paid much attention to water supplies.
“The issue with water within ten to twenty years may rival what
we have with energy in the sense that right now it's getting hard to
fi nd, and like oil [water] will become much more expensive,” says
hydrometeorologist Frank Richards. “The fundamental way forward is
to understand the problem of water scarcity, and through a societal
approach, deal with it.”
For example, if enough water isn't available to meet the poten-
tial needs of a proposed project, the area won't be developed.
Theoretically, says Richards, that's what's happening in Las Vegas,
where water is always an issue. He points to zoning codes that
require developers to identify the water supply for any potential
development before the project is approved. “Developers will go
into central Nevada to try to identify an aquifer they can draw from.
That's an onerous burden on developers, but frankly, in some areas,
it's the only way we can mitigate the issues,” Richards says.
In pioneer times, settlements tended to spring up around
water supplies. These days, it doesn't seem to matter. The vast
majority of people in the United States take water for granted,
and access to water generally doesn't top their list of concerns.
That's likely to change, experts agree, as water takes center stage
in the twenty-fi rst century.
