Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
WATER TALES
A few years ago, the City Council in Humeston, Iowa, pop-
ulation 543, realized it absolutely had to replace the
town's crumbling water system, which had been built in
the early 1900s. Greg Huff, then a council member, says
the pipes were so clogged with mineral buildup that they
looked as if they had been buried in the ocean for years.
However, the average person doesn't think of (or wouldn't know)
that, because water systems are largely unseen and don't get dug up
unless there's an interruption in service.
To help convince citizens of the tiny town that they really were
facing a water crisis, offi cials displayed a somewhat frightening sec-
tion of that worn-out and clogged pipe at City Hall.
The tactic worked. With the help of federal community block
grants and other federal money, the small system was replaced to
the tune of $1.1 million in 2003.
Not Always Too Little Water
Water-rich Idaho—a major exporter of the commodity—has its
own infrastructure problems, which stretch far beyond that state's
borders. “We don't have enough water storage or infrastructure
like canals, waterways, and conveyance systems,” says Idaho water
resources expert David Tuthill.
The state is in the enviable position of having plenty of water.
It stores about 16 million acre-feet annually, and more than 90 mil-
lion acre-feet fl ow from the state every year. However, says Tuthill,
that water isn't captured because the infrastructure—as in stor-
age capacity—is inadequate. “We've added a number of uses that
weren't contemplated when we built our infrastructure.”
Those new uses include requirements that a certain amount of
water fl ow through the rivers to protect endangered species and pro-
vide for fi sheries habitat. “Even in a dry year, we'll send nearly a half-
million acre-feet downstream in the Snake River system,” says Tuthill.
Expanding urbanization and irrigation tax the system, too. Out
of about 3.5 million acres irrigated in Idaho, about a million acres
