Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
New Mexico should get water from California to support producing
that power, adds Hightower. “People are beginning to understand that
exporting electrons to another state is the same as exporting water.”
Needs versus Demands
A few thousand miles to the east in Massachusetts, Kerry Mackin
expounds on how to ease the nation's water woes. She's head of the
Ipswich River Watershed Association. Remember, the Ipswich is
the river that periodically ran dry in sections during the summer, in
part due to overpumping of groundwater. “The solution is to look
at the optimal way to meet our real water needs as opposed to our
demands,” says Mackin.
Her multipronged approach includes these suggestions:
Use water as efficiently as possible,
including lowering nonprior-
ity uses like lawn watering so they don't supersede fisheries
and other essential uses. This reduces energy demand, too.
Optimize water-supply management scenarios.
That could include
a mix of groundwater and surface water, or using surface
water supplies in the summer and groundwater supplies
the rest of the year.
Offset or mitigate water demand.
These offsets should include
programs to capture storm water and return it to replen-
ish groundwater aquifers rather than allowing it to run off.
Another offset could be to treat wastewater locally and return
the cleaned, treated water into the ground to replenish
aquifers.
Include environmental costs in the price of water.
Returning some
of the costs of water extraction to restore damaged rivers will
help reduce demand and provide economic incentives to bal-
ance the water budget.
“The key, in our basin at least, is to restore the groundwater
hydrology by getting water back into the aquifers,” says Mackin.
Aquifer replenishment has grown in popularity world-
wide as one aspect of managing groundwater resources. In the
United States, it's catching on, too, and has been implemented
