Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
for public water supply, so for the past fi ve decades large portions
of the river have been pumped dry chronically.”
The primary culprits have been lawn watering during dry sum-
mers, which coincides with naturally low fl ow, along with wells close
to the river's edge that “literally pump the river dry,” says Mackin.
Adding to the problem, much of the water taken out of the river
is removed from the watershed (drainage basin) completely. “Due
to water rights granted in the early 1900s, about 20 million of the
roughly 30 million gallons a day of water that have been allocated
go to small cities south of the watershed, two of which are entirely
and two partially outside the watershed . . . so the water never comes
back. It's a huge net loss this watershed can't afford,” says Mackin.
Shipped Out
Portions of Earth's largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes, feel
the water squeeze, too. In fall 2007, the largest lake, Lake Superior,
hit its lowest level since January 1926 and remains below long-term
monthly averages (see Figure 2.3), according to data from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District.
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The district regularly
tracks water levels in all the Great Lakes. Beyond the issue of water
for personal and industrial use, a dropping lake level has serious
consequences for maritime shipping in Lake Superior.
Verbal battles between thirsty states lusting for Great Lakes water
and those states and Canadian provinces with access to that
water have brewed for years. Entrepreneurs looking to tap the water
and state governments have entered the fray. In 1998, a Canadian
fi rm, The Nova Group, won Ontario government approval to
export close to 160 million gallons a year of Lake Superior water in
tankers to water-short Asia! Public and private outcry on both sides
of the border nixed that deal. The incident also led in part to the
fi nalized 2008 Great Lakes Basin compact mentioned previously.
Farming Woes
Once abundantly productive land in the Midwest and West now
barely produces enough crops to make farming worthwhile. Some
fi elds today are dried and cracked at worst, and at best rely on “dry-
land farming” that depends on scarce rainwater that's getting scarcer.
