Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
water to irrigate landscape, he says. Instead, they have 6,000-gallon
tanks that capture rainwater running off the roof to irrigate plants
and landscape.
“Like the Australians, we are all going to have to become more
water-smart,” Atwater adds. He and his utility already are national
leaders in recycling and reusing wastewater, as well as producing
renewable energy through methane gas and solar generation.
15
The Polar Connection
One watery result of a warming planet is melting polar ice. As the
north polar ice cap disintegrates, ocean levels and temperatures
rise. That affects the location, amount, and frequency of precipi-
tation. Arctic sea ice coverage in December 2010 was the lowest
extent on record for the month since satellite records began in
1979. Arctic ice extent in December has declined 3.5 percent per
decade (1979-2010), according to data analysis from the National
Snow and Ice Data Center.
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Chilling Results
Whether climate change is natural, or is man-made and exac-
erbated by higher ozone levels and pollution, it is expected to
decrease future water supplies. “Many water resource managers
already are beginning to see it in the United States,” says Sandia
National Laboratories' Mike Hightower.
Climate change doesn't necessarily mean that total annual pre-
cipitation will be different, says water law expert Joseph Dellapenna.
“But the pattern of precipitation will be different because more will
fall as rain and less as snow. Even in the East, the real reservoir for
summer water usage is the snowpack. If you get more rain and less
snow, you're going to have less water in that reservoir. In states like
California, it's quickly going to move into a crisis situation,” he adds.
“In the East, the snowpack isn't as deep to begin with because
the mountains are lower. So it may be more of a crisis than peo-
ple realize, because they haven't focused on the snowpack aspect.
But if you get more rain and less snow, the snow will melt sooner,”
Dellapenna adds.
