7 Billion and Counting...

Some time on October 31, the 7 billionth person was born.  Although we will never know exactly who that person was, what we do know is that this marks an astonishing time in human history and in the history of this planet (well...as far as we know anyway...).  What this means is there are that many more people on this planet that will be adding to the human population and adding to the stress on our planet--especially our natural resources.  Especially water.

Here are some stats from a featured Rueters article ("Water use rising faster than world population") published on October 25:

• Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century 
• Water use is predicted to increase by 50 percent between 2007 and 2025 in developing countries 
• Water use is predicted to increase by 18 percent in developed ones, with much of the increased use in the poorest countries with more and more people moving from rural areas to cities
• World population is estimated to reach 9 billion by mid-century 

What's scary is that there are currently over 1 billion people on the planet that lack access to clean drinking water supplies and over 2 billion people that live without proper sanitation.  These numbers are staggering--what will happen when the population continues to grow at such an exponential rate?  Children born in the next 10 years will have a higher chance of not living past the age of 5 than they did half a century ago.  Not only that but an estimated 1 million people die each year due to waterborne diseases, most of which are entirely preventable.  Is that what we want for the fate of humanity?

Not only does a rising human population stress our freshwater supplies, but the impacts of climate change (e.g., floods and droughts) will amplify the water crisis.  A large portion of my Master's thesis was on this topic as it relates to the Colorado River Basin--which has been identified as a water risk hot spot--and the future of the American Southwest.  This topic is too involved to write about now, so I will leave it for a future blog post...
This doesn't have to mean all doom-and-gloom, it just means we have to be smarter about our water use, more diligent about not polluting what we do have, and develop more innovative ways to reuse what we do have.  We have to be more efficient and conservative with all our water uses across all sectors--agricultural, industrial, and domestic.  We have to enact more stringent guidelines for point and non-point source water pollution, as well as ways to properly enforce these regulations.  We have to recycle and reuse reclaimed water, build constructed wetlands, install green roofs, harvest rainwater, just to name a few.  

Of course doing all this is easier said than done.  But it can be done.  At the risk of sounding cliche, you can make a difference.  As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I think if people are properly educated and learn that their actions have a direct impact on the health of the environment and in turn their own health, they are more likely to become stewards of our natural resources.  I think getting the word out--especially via video--and making powerful campaigns can have a huge impact on the actions of people.  If you saw that the paint you poured down your drain went into the nearby river from which your drinking water comes from, wouldn't you think twice about dumping paint down your drain again?  If you saw the cracked mud of a once flourishing Colorado River Delta, would you replace your water-guzzling lawn with Xeriscape (water-efficient, desert-appropriate landscaping)?...

Southern Vermont Post Tropical Storm Irene Part II

I was recently listening to Vermont Edition on Vermont's Public Radio, and the topic was rebuilding roads after the storm.  It was discussed how construction crews were hastily channelizing the river and putting in gravel and boulders to slow future water flows should there be another catastrophic flood event.  And how the state pulled together its resources and got roads fixed to keep the state moving and to make sure people weren't stranded.  However, in hindsight it was discussed that the construction workers should have talked with river experts to make sure that the efforts made would prevent future destruction as much as possible.  Nobody is laying blame since the state and its citizens were in such distress, something had to be done quickly.

But it's true.  Repairing the roads and bridges were the primary things that needed to be fixed, but channelizing rivers and changing other facets of the rivers could have waited until environmental scientists and river engineers could be consulted.  Lining inlets with rocks and boulders and scraping out displaced sediment might not have been the best decision for the fish and other aquatic and riparian flora and fauna that have had their lives destructed and displaced as well.  Something does need to be done to make sure the widespread destruction of people's lives and livelihoods doesn't occur in such magnitude in the future, but we shouldn't forget that other living creatures lost their lives and habitats as well.