A lack of drinkable water is undoubtedly one of the most pressing environmental concerns of our age, yet often one of the least appreciated.
The National Science Foundation recently produced a guide into what it calls the water-energy-food nexus. The guide was driven by continual water shortages in California and hopes to provide a guiding focus for further research into the area.
“We have settled in places and undertaken industrial and agricultural activities largely based on water availability,” the authors say. “When that availability changes, we must adapt. If the change is rather rapid, we often face a crisis.”
The authors advocate three strategies for businesses, governments and policy makers to help with the water situation.
- Promote water conservation, especially in large factories and farms that have enormous water usage (and wastage).
- Improve education about water resources.
- Develop new policies to better reflect the current reality regarding water demand and supply
Swiim System
It is very much in keeping with the recommendation to make farms more efficient users of water that the Swiim System was created. The project, which was launched in conjunction with the US Department of Agriculture, aims to help and support farmers use water more efficiently.
It does so via a sharing economy style approach whereby farmers can lease out any surplus water to other farmers via the Swiim platform.
Swiim, which stands for Sustainable Water and Innovative Irrigation Movement, provides farmers with the software to more efficiently manage water, including tips on irrigation techniques, cropping inventory and so on, all tailored to the specific environment each farmer operates within.
When the farmer has successfully followed the guidance and verified the reduced water they’re consuming, they can then supplement their income by selling this saved amount of water to neighboring farmers.
This process is arranged via a so called water manager, which is usually an irrigation district or farmers co-operative.
The Swiim platform is currently in use in Colorado but will shortly be expanded into other parts of the US, including California. It’s an interesting approach at tackling what is surely only likely to become a more pressing issue.
Fascinating concept. You're not really sharing your water, but I appreciate that's largely a semantic issue.
Sadly, there is a class of people opposed to any rational discussion of solutions to water issues. They even go so far as to help create the shortage and then obstruct any attempt to correct it. Take for example the water shortage in Southern California. SoCal has always received the majority of its water supply from other places including the Sacramento Delta and the Colorado River. Both of these are now restricted because greater priority has been given to other needs. Then when SoCal communities seek solutions such as desalination, these same agencies interfere citing their perceived environmental concerns. It seems that human needs are not only secondary but also irrelevant. As a result, SoCal residents see little hope for compromise and tend to fight back prodded by their instinct for survival. Not much chance of "sharing" is there?