Great Article On Water Scarcity At The Economist

I have long been a fan of the Economist. The writing is excellent, well thought-out, and often reports on stories ignored or buried by other news sources here in the U.S.

On Friday, the Economist published an article on water scarcity. The article provides an expansive overview of the problem. While the breadth of the article understandably limits the depth with which it covers various issues, the article is an excellent introduction for anyone who wants to learn about water scarcity.

I highly recommend you check it out.

When Does Efficiency Not Lead To Conservation?

It is a hallmark of current thinking among conservationists that one of the greatest tools in our arsenal to promote the conservation of natural resources is increasing the efficiency of our use of those resources. The entirely logical line of reasoning being that if we get more bang for our buck, then we need less bucks – or water, coal, oil, electricity etc. This is a bedrock principle of modern water management. But recently I have been called on to look at “efficiency” a little more closely.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about a recent report issued by the Pacific Water Institute on the great strides that can and have been made to increase the water efficiency of agriculture in California. In particular was one example I cited from the report of a farm that reported increasing its water efficiency by 20% (which can be found on p. 33 of the report).

I just received an extensive comment to the post asking about that particular 20% number. Wayne Bossert, manager of the Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4, asked whether the 20% increase in efficiency represented a decrease in “consumptive use” or a decrease in water “diverted and applied.” Mr. Bossert explained the question as follows:

In any hydrologic system where the water supply and the water sink (where non-consumptive water uses go) are the same, increasing irrigation application efficiency just eliminates the sink supply and provides a higher percentage of the applied water to consumptive use crop production. You can pump less water with the higher efficient irrigation system, but you can also actually consume more water.

The 65% efficient irrigation system only makes 65% of the applied water available for crop production. The rest is non-consumptive use that returns (eventually) to the supply - at least in a traditional groundwater aquifer system. When a new 99%efficient drip system is installed, the producer pumps 75% of what he used to, but 99% of it is made available and consumed by crop production. My math tells me that 99% of 75% is more than 65% of 100%.

It is this extra water use that increases the yields so often reported when higher efficiency systems are converted to.

(Please read the rest of the comment here)

This comment struck me in two ways. First, I had always assumed that “efficiency” must be “good” in all circumstances – this comment has made me realize that “efficiency” is really a far more nuanced concept in water management. Second, as I have discussed in several different contexts, I believe that water management really needs to be looked at holistically, taking into consideration the entire hydrologic cycle. And that is exactly the point Mr. Bossert is making. In his example of the 65% efficient irrigation system, the other 35% of the water that does not go to the crops is not necessarily lost or destroyed. In fact, usually, that water simply returns to the natural hydrologic cycle. The same cycle that ultimately is the water supply.

To answer Mr. Bossert’s specific question, I have to say that the report doesn't provide a clear answer because as far as I can see it doesn’t squarely address the issue (though I admit I did not comb through all 75 pages). But my reading of it leads me to believe that the 20% increase in efficiency referred to a decrease in water “diverted and applied.” If the goal of water conservation is to reduce human use (i.e. consumption) of water, it seems we need to give greater thought to what it means to increase the efficiency of our water use.

This doesn’t mean that increased efficiency is a bad thing. Indeed, Mr. Bossert himself makes that point. And the Pacific Institute Report notes a number of non-consumption related environmental benefits associated with increasing irrigation efficiency. What it does mean is that increased efficiency may not be the ultimate solution for one of the largest water management challenges we face – dwindling supplies.

PPCP Contamination of our Water Supply

It’s not exactly breaking news, but it is still worth talking about the growing realization among scientists that our water supply (and by that I mean not just the water coming out of the tap, but also streams, lakes and even bottled water) is contaminated by low levels of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (known as “PPCP’s”). Take a look at this AP report which first brought this issue to the public’s attention.

As it turns out, every time we pop pills (something we do a lot more these days) our bodies do not metabolize 100% of the medication. This is true whether it is over-the-counter ibuprofen or prescription birth control pills. The portion that is not metabolized ends up down the toilet. Similarly, all the makeup, suntan lotion, moisturizer etc. on our skin ends up in waste water after we wash – or in our lakes, rivers and streams after we swim. This is compounded by the apparently widespread direct disposal of unused medications down the toilet and into landfills. For an interesting diagram of some of the ways PPCP’s enter our environment take a look here (thanks to the MassDEP).

While it should come as no surprise that we flush all sorts of things into our waste water, what has caused a certain amount of surprise and consternation among scientists is that PPCP’s appear to survive in the environment at very low levels (or are replenished at a rate equal to or greater than the rate at which they break down), and they have been detected just about everywhere. For a more technical discussion of the issue, see here.

Now, it is important to note that the level of contamination is far below therapeutic dosages. The concern remains however 1) that we don’t understand the possible effects of long term exposure to these chemicals, either individually or in combination; and 2) that we do not seem to have a good handle on how to get PPCP’s out of our water if they are causing a problem.

This issue has not gone unnoticed at the EPA (see here) or at various State DEP’s (e.g. here). The EPA is currently sponsoring a number of research projects, some of which will be completed this year. It appears that the early targets of the EPA’s research efforts are health care facilities.

Health care facilities may not seem like an obvious target, but the EPA has thus far identified more than 50,000 facilities in the US that the EPA believes may dispose of large quantities of unused pharmaceuticals. The term “health care facility” here includes not just hospitals, but also nursing care facilities, retirement communities, and residential facilities for the mentally handicapped. Surprisingly, there are no comprehensive federal regulations dealing with disposal methods for pharmaceuticals. For pharmaceuticals which fall under the Controlled Substances Act, disposal methods are mandated, but permit the health care facility to destroy unused meds by flushing them down the drain. State and local regulations are a patchwork.

Whether or not there is a human physiological impact from PPCP’s, the early results suggest that there is at least some environmental impact. That may well lead to new regulations to control PPCP levels in our drinking water and environment. While some of those regulations will undoubtedly impact the way we dispose of these products, it is also likely that they will require at least some remediation of water that is already contaminated.

There is also the obvious public relations aspect of the problem as evidenced by the tone of the AP article mentioned at the beginning of this post. If PPCP’s are found to have an impact on human health – and possibly even if they don’t – it is not difficult to imagine that the public will demand water that has been filtered for these compounds. This presents an interesting opportunity for those in the water industry who can develop the necessary technology to reliably filter these chemicals out of our water.