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WATERCONSERVATION

The protection, development, and efficient management of water resources forbeneficial purposes. Nearly every human activity—from agriculture totransportation to daily living—relies on water resources and affects theavailability and quality of those resources. Water resource development hasplayed a role in flood control, agricultural production, industrial and energydevelopment, fish and wildlife resource management, navigation, and a host of other activities. As a result of these impacts, natural hydrologic features havechanged through time, pollution has decreased the quality of remaining waterresources, and global climate change may affect the distribution of water in thefuture. See also Hydrology.Water availability varies substantially between geographic regions, but it is alsoaffected strongly by the population of the region. Asia, for example, has anextremely large total runoff but the lowest per-capita water availability. Inaddition, nearly 40% of the world's population lives in areas that experiencesevere to moderate water stress. Thus the combination of water and populationdistribution has resulted in a large difference in per-capita water use betweencountries.Worldwide, nearly 4000 km3 of water is withdrawn every year from surface andground waters. This is a sixfold increase from the levels withdrawn in 1900(since which time population has increased four times). Agriculture accounts forthe greatest proportion of water use, with about two-thirds of water withdrawalsand 85% of water consumption. It also accounts for a great proportion of theincrease in water use, with irrigated cropland more than doubling globally since1960. However, in Europe and North America particularly, industry consumes alarge proportion of available water; industrial uses for water are anticipated togrow on other continents as well.Land development has substantially affected the distribution of water resources.It is estimated that one-half of the natural wetlands in the world have been lostin the last century. In some areas, such as California, wetland loss is estimatedto be greater than 90%. The vast majority of wetlands loss has been associatedwith agricultural development, but urban and industrial changes have reducedwetlands as well. River channels have also been altered to enhance irrigation,navigation, power production, and a variety of other human activities.Ground-water resources have been depleted in the last century, with manyaquifers or artesian sources being depleted more rapidly than they can berecharged. This is called ground-water overdraft. In the United States, ground-water overdraft is a serious problem in the High Plains from Nebraska to Texasand in parts of California and Arizona. See also Ground-water hydrology.Streams have traditionally served for waste disposal. Towns and cities,industries, and mines provide thousands of pollution sources. Pollution dilutionrequires large amounts of water. Treatment at the source is safer and lesswasteful than flushing untreated or poorly treated wastes downstream.

However, sufficient flows must be released to permit the streams to dilute,assimilate, and carry away the treated effluents. See also Water pollution. The availability of fresh water is also likely to be affected by global climatechange. There is substantial evidence that global temperatures have risen andwill continue to rise. Although the precise effects of this temperature risk onwater distribution are challenging to predict, most models of climate change doanticipate increased global precipitation. It is likely that some areas, particularlythose at mid to high latitudes, will become wetter, but the increasedprecipitation will be more seasonal than current patterns. Other areas are likelyto receive less precipitation than they do currently. In addition, many modelspredict increases in the intensity and frequency of severe droughts and floods inat least some regions. These changes will affect natural stream flow patterns,soil moisture, ground-water recharge, and thus the timing and intensity of human demands for fresh-water supplies. See also Global climate change.Land management vitally influences the distribution and character of runoff.Inadequate vegetation or surface organic matter; compaction of farm, ranch, orforest soils by heavy vehicles; frequent crop-harvesting operations; repeatedburning; or excessive trampling by livestock or wild ungulates all expose the soilto the destructive energy of rainfall or rapid snowmelt. On such lands littlewater enters the soil, soil particles are dislodged and quickly washed intowatercourses, and gullies may form. See also Land-use planning; Soilconservation. There are a variety of measures that can be taken to reduce waterconsumption. In the United States, for example, per-capita water usage dropped20% from 1980 to 1995. In many cases, improvements to existing systemswould contribute to additional water savings. In the United States, an averageof 15% of the water in public supply systems (for cities with populations greaterthan 10,000) is unaccounted for, and presumably lost.Improvements can also be achieved by changing industrial and agriculturalpractices. Agricultural water consumption has an estimated overall water useefficiency of 40%. More effective use of water in agricultural systems can beachieved, for example, with more efficient delivery methods such as dripirrigation. More accurate assessment of soil and plant moisture can allowtargeted delivery of water at appropriate times. In industrial settings, recyclingand more efficient water use has tremendous potential to reduce waterconsumption. Overall, industrial water usage dropped by 30% in Californiabetween 1980 and 1990, with some sectors achieving even greater reductions. Japan has achieved a 25% reduction in industrial water use since the 1970s.Additional potential to reduce this usage still exists even in locations wheremany conservation measures are already in place.Residential water consumption can also be reduced through conservationmeasures. High-efficiency, low-flow toilets can reduce the water required toflush by 70% or more. Additional savings are possible with efficient faucetfixtures and appliances.Water conservation in the United States faces a number of institutional as wellas technological challenges. States must administer the regulatory provisions of their pollution-control laws, develop water quality standards and waste-treatment requirements, and supervise construction and maintenance

standards of public service water systems. Some states can also regulateground-water use to prevent serious overdrafts. Artesian wells may have to becapped, permits may be required for drilling new wells, or reasonable use mayhave to be demonstrated. Federal responsibilities consist largely of financialsupport or other stimulation of state and local water management. Federallegislation permits court action on suits involving interstate streams wherestates fail to take corrective action following persistent failure of a communityor industry to comply with minimum waste-treatment requirements. The watershed control approach to planning, development, and managementrests on the established interdependence of water, land, and people.Coordination of structures and land-use practices is sought to prevent erosion,promote infiltration, and retard high flows (to prevent flooding). The NaturalResources Conservation and Forest Services of the Department of Agricultureadminister the program. The Natural Resources Conservation Servicecooperates with other federal and state agencies and operates primarilythrough the more than 2000 soil conservation districts.Because watersheds often span political boundaries, many efforts to conserveand manage water require cooperation between states and countries. Manycountries currently have international treaties addressing water allocation andutilization. In 1997, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses, which includes anobligation not to cause significant harm to other watercourse states, as well asprovisions for dispute resolution. In addition, in 1996 the Global WaterPartnership and the World Water Council were formed for the purpose of addressing ongoing international water concerns. The increasing utilization of the continental shelf for oil drilling and transport,siting of nuclear power plants, and various types of planned and inadvertentwaste disposal, as well as for food and recreation, requires careful managementof human activities in this ecosystem. Nearshore waters are presently subject toboth atmospheric and coastal input of pollutants in the form of heavy metals,synthetic chemicals, petroleum hydrocarbons, radionuclides, and other urbanwastes. Overfishing is an additional human-induced stress. Physical transport of pollutants, their modification by the coastal food web, and demonstration of transfer to humans are sequential problems of increasing complexity on thecontinental shelf.One approach to quantitatively assess the above pollutant impacts is toconstruct simulation models of the coastal food web in a systems analysis of thecontinental shelf. Models of physical transport of pollutants have been the mostsuccessful, for example, as in studies of beach fouling by oil. Incorporation of additional biological and chemical terms in a simulation model, however,requires dosage response functions of the natural organisms to each class of pollutants, as well as a quantitative description of the “normal” food webinteractions of the continental shelf. See also Ecological modeling; Food web.In addition to toxic materials introduced by oil spills, sewage, and agriculturaland industrial run-off, coastal waters are vulnerable to thermal pollution. Thermal pollution is caused by the discharge of hot water from power plants orfactories and from desalination plants. A large power installation may pump in106 gal/min (63 m3/s) of seawater to act as a coolant and discharge it at atemperature approximately 18°F (10°C) above that of the ambient water. In a