One in Three U.S. Counties Will Fall Short on Water

by Nikki Gloudeman · 2010-07-26 09:00:00 UTC
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The old adage "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink" could soon take on a whole new meaning.

According to a recent report, climate change could put one-third of U.S. counties at a higher risk of water shortages by 2050. Even worse, more than 400 of these face an 'extremely high risk.'

The study, put out by the Natural Resource Defense Council, culled its data from the irrigation, power plant and municipal sectors, using the U.N.'s climate projections.

Its conclusion? Fourteen states face a high likelihood for dry spells: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. And, of all the lower 48, not one state will be fully spared.

To be fair, of course, water shortages are a big problem,  climate change or not. But, as the report shows, the effects of global warming are turning a problem into a crisis. Take, for instance, California. As NRDC notes, with climate change only four counties face extreme water shortages. With climate change: 19.

There's good reason to fuss about these figures. When a utility has to ration water flow, shortages hurt people at home, and can wreak agricultural havoc by reducing crop yield and increasing disease, weed, and insect risks. For our economy, this is very bad news; in 2007, the value of the top three crops produced in at-risk counties exceeded $105 billion. (For more dire details, the Agricultural Carbon Market Working Group reveals the crop values of all the at-risk counties.)

As with most reports, the big question on this is: What impact will this new information have?

A day after the report was released, only a handful of local newspapers, including the Topeka Capital-Journal in Kansas and Green Valley News and Sun in Arizona, had even mentioned the news. This is too bad, since it is precisely the kind of information that could get people thinking about ways to thwart global warming and prepare for its impact. After all, as the other adage goes, "There is no life without water."

Photo credit: Roger McLassus/Wikimedia Commons

Nikki Gloudeman is a senior fellow at Mother Jones magazine where she writes about the environment and other topics.
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