Water, Water Everywhere - NOT
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by Richard Maltzman,
Dave Shirley
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Date
When I was in high school (along with George Washington), a long time ago, I was required to memorize a poem and present it in class. I chose the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Coleridge. To this day, I can still recall bits and pieces. One piece I remember vividly is:
"Water, water everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
Of course there are many interpretations of the meaning of this, but literally, it is a pretty scary thought, but yet, it may be a reality. We’ve talked before about freshwater being the next oil, a limiting resource. There’s lots of saltwater, like in the Rime, but you can't drink it as is. We’ve seen Wall Street bet on water becoming scarcer in the future resulting in a supply and demand situation and the cost of water rising to some expensive level like gasoline. We can live without gasoline; we can walk, we can ride a bike, we can seek alternative energies. But we can’t live without water. We can live longer without food. According to livescience.com there is a “rule of three”. You can live 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Of course it is all situational, but one can see that water is critical.
According to an article[1] in a recent issue of Outside, “In ten to twenty years, unless the drought breaks or everyone in Los Angeles starts recycling their own pee, Lake Mead will run dry and the Southwest will have to pack up its playthings and move in with its relatives back east.” That is because there are legal requirements (Law of the River) that govern water release to Mexico, California, Arizona, and Nevada, and those allocations of water are unsustainable given the current situation. The original document was created during the “wet” period early in the twentieth century. We all know what has happened since and most recently; fires, droughts, water rationing, and more. However, I do believe that with the help of projects and competent project management, that there are ways to mitigate this risk. Remember, nothing gets done without projects and project managers who are aware of all of the issues, including life cycle assessment and sustainability, will be the ones to bring us into a “sustainable future.”
So, what can be done? According to Mr. Rowan, we need to be smart about our water usage, “Children of Dune smart.” The article suggests many projects to help the low water conditions. I will highlight a few here. Phoenix uses 165 gallons of water per person per day, Tucson uses 128 gallons. The difference is that Tucson embraces the desert look, while Phoenix likes the lush lawn look. Project – move at least all industrial and commercial sites in Phoenix to native (desert) landscaping. Incentivize individuals to do the same. All new homes are required to recycle their grey-water (shower, sink) for irrigation.
Using Las Vegas as a model – project – all drain and toilet water is treated and pumped back into Lake Mead (except for evaporation) 100% recycle. LA project – paying LA residents $2.00/sq. ft. to remove their lawns. Australians have been dealing with a lack of water longer than we have, and they have successfully adopted processes to greatly reduce their water usage. Australians use about ½ the water per person as we do. If they can do it, we can. All it takes is projects to move ideas to reality.
One of the larger projects undertaken will be with the agricultural industry. According to the article, agriculture uses at least 70% of the water in the Colorado River basin. An interesting fact is that each hamburger produced takes about 500 gallons of water. If we all eat 1 less hamburger per year, we can save a generous amount of water. Isn’t an advertising campaign to make people aware of some of these statistics a project? I didn’t know, however, that we have a “use it or lose it” policy when it comes to water usage. In other words, there is no policy where a farmer can sell back surplus water. Instead, the current policy encourages farmers to use their allotment no matter what. As a result, farmers over grow alfalfa, as an example, then ship the excess overseas. That policy needs to change!
We need to be creative. We need to develop projects that will both encourage conservation and create new ways to use water in a more sustainable way. Those projects need to be managed by competent and sustainably savvy project managers. The second piece we can’t forget is that sustainable savvy project managers also are aware of the way they manage their projects so that they are managed in a sustainable way. We approach it this way. It is a two-pronged approach; sustainable project managers manage both the product of the project and the project itself, both in the short term, and for the entire life cycle of the product. That is why we encourage all project managers to continue to “get smart” on sustainability.
[1] Jacobsen, Rowen, The River was Everywhere & Nowhere, Outside, July 2014, pg. 81.
Posted
by
Dave Shirley
on: September 24, 2014 09:16 AM |
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Comments (2)
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 | Anonymous |
I'm under the impression that water is not getting expensive due only to higher use. The case could be made that corporations are also buying up water sources and water rights in order to corner the market. Maybe it could be a project for a centralized organization to monitor that.
| Anonymous |
Betsy, You're right. There could be companies out there trying to corner the market. And, someone certainly should be undertaking that project to make sure, if it is happening, that it is monitored.
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