Ground Water Resources

• Freshwater on/below Earth’s surface = 3%

• Saltwater = 97%

Groundwater

• Precipitation infiltrates and percolates downward through soil pore spaces and rock crevices and is stored below ground.

• Groundwater surplus = higher than normal water table.

• Groundwater deficit = lower than normal water table.

Water Budget

Average WT

Water Surplus

Input>output

Water Deficit

Input<output

Aquifers

• Aquifer – porous soils allow for water to accumulated in layers of sand and gravel confined by clay layers (confining layers)

Long Island – Sole Source Aquifer

Groundwater Recharge Areas

• Recharge Areas – any area of land where water passes downward or laterally into an aquifer. Example: Long Island Pine Barrens or Development Recharge Basins “sumps”.

Long Island’s Groundwater Recharge

Freshwater Uses

• Irrigation – 16%• Energy Production & Cooling – 25%• Domestic/Municipal use – 10% • (mostly developed nations)• Agriculture and Industrial Processing – 50%

Eastern USA – plenty of water

Western USA – arid region = water shortages

Long Island – Sole Source Aquifer

Causes of Water Shortages• Dry Climate• Drought Precipitation (low),

Evapotranspiration and evaporation (high)

• Dessication (drying out)• Water stress as population

increases (Las Vegas)• Precipitation = 10cm/yr;

64% water usage by homeowners for lawns and gardens!

• Result = water diversion from Colorado River to meet water consumption needs.

Water Rights in the USA

East

“Riparian Rights”

-As per needed basis as long as there is enough water left for downstream areas.

West

“First Come-First Serve” basis

-legal rights to usage; groundwater belongs to the owner of the land above it! They can use as much as they want, divert it or sell it to make a profit!

Garrett Hardins – “Tragedy of the Commons” (+FBL)

Ogallala AquiferWyoming

S. Dakota

Nebraska

Colorado

Kansas

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

Ogallala Aquifer

• World’s largest aquifer

• Water is 15,000 – 30,000 years old (nonrenewable)

• VERY SLOW recharge rate

• Used for: irrigation (20%) and farming (40%)

Ogallala Aquifer Problems

1. Water is diverted into arid lands which are normally NOT arable.

2. Subsidies provided to farmers to divert water in an effort to decrease government “crop disaster “ payments to farmers who lose their crop due to drought.

The government encourages “groundwater mining” by giving tax breaks = +FBL

3. Water experts expect the Ogallala to be “economically depleted” by 2020 at current consumption rate.

4. Native Americans lost rights to water on what was originally their land due to “settler’s Appropriation Rights”!

Colorado River

Colorado River Diversion

• 1,400 miles long• Headwaters – glacial in Colorado Rocky Mountains• Mouth – Gulf of California, Mexico• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and US

Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) licensed 17 major hydropower dams and 100 minor dams.

• Water is diverted to farmers to grow water thirsty crops such as alfalfa and ranchers (80%) as far away as California’s Imperial Valley and to cities including Las Vegas.

Hydropower Dams Along the Colorado River

Subsidies

• Water is subsidized by taxpayers for construction of dams.

• This presents a false, low cost of water to consumers in this extremely arid region.

• Native Americans have lost rights because of settler’s Appropriation Rights.

• Water allotments in USA have been exceeded, leaving a trickle of water for Mexicans.

• Water quality is compromised and biodiversity decreases.

Gulf of California, Mexico

Should Water Be Privatized?

• Pros to privitization of water – when a resource is an “investment” better care is taken of the resource.

• Cons to privitization of water – water is a common resource for all people to use. Is it fair to allow corporations to control common resources?

• Tragedy of the commons – overuse and depletion of common resources.

• Mind-set is “If I don’t use it, someone else will”• (Video)

Water Wars in the Middle East

Iraq

Turkey

Syria

Israel Jordan River

Jordan

Jordan River

Jordan

Syria

Israel

Tigris-Euphrates

Turkey

Syria

Iraq

Nile River

Ethiopia

Sudan

Egypt

Jordan River

• Israel – irrigates 2/3 of its croplands, but uses water more efficiently than any other country in the world.

• Jordan – 75% of water from Jordan River basin. With population on the rise, water shortages could cause Jordan to declare war on Israel for water useage.

• Syria – gets water from Jordan and the Euphrates-Tigris rivers. Syria is closest to headwaters for Jordan River. They plan to build many dams for water diversion. This will limit water going to Jordan and Israel.

• Israel threatens to “destroy” dams in Syria.

Tigris-Euphrates River

• Turkey – is situated at the headwater and they plan to build 22 dams along the upper Tigris and Euphrates for hydroelectric plants and for irrigation.

• Turkey plans on diverting water from dams via pipelines to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and possibly Syria, Israel and Jordan.

• Syria – gets 90% of its water from the Euphrates.

• Iraq – will be left with very little water.

Nile River

• Ethiopia – control 85% of the headwaters.

• Sudan uses approximately 10 %.

• Egypt – the last to get water along the Nile (5%). Egypt has a thin area of irrigated cropland, the rest of Egypt is desert.

• PROBLEM: Egyptian population grows by 1 million every 9 months!

What Can Egypt Do?

• Declare war on Sudan and Ethiopia• Decrease population growth• Save water by improving irrigation efficiency and

drought resistant crops• Spend 2 billion dollars and pump water from

Lake Nasser (reservoir at the Aswan High Dam)• Import more grain to feed population• Work out water-sharing agreements with other

countries.• Suffer human and economic losses.

How Can Water Problems Be Resolved?

1. Decrease population!1.2 billion lack access to clean drinking water2.2 billion live without Sewage Treatment Plants (STP’s)2/3 of the world households do NOT have running water.

2. Must be a global commitment to sharing this rare and valuable resource sustainably!

3. Build dams to store water in (reservoirs)4. Transfer water from other places.5. Build desalination plants (USA engineers)6. Improve efficiency in water usage7. Conserve water.

Why Is Water Wasted In the USA?

• Artificially low prices of water resulting from government subsidies (externalities not including in your water bill).

• Promotion of growing water thirsty crops such as alfalfa in California and Arizona! The government makes water SO cheap and easily accessible through water transfer from Colorado River that farmers grow these crops.

• The US Bureau of Reclamation supplies ¼ of all water used to irrigate lands to the western USA under Long-Term Contracts at greatly subsidized prices from our taxes!

• Watershed Management is divided between state and local governments in the western USA, there is not 1 Authority in control. Long Island has a Regional Water Authority (Suffolk County Water Authority) and we are in much better shape, but water is still ridiculously cheap.

Suffolk County Water Authority

• Annual Reports on the Quality of Your Drinking Water are mailed out each spring to each resident in Suffolk County.

• You can view them online as well.• www.scwa.com/residential/your

drinkingwater.cfm

How Can We Conserve Water in the USA?

• Efficiency improvement • Flood irrigation through gravity flow• Center-pivot sprinklers (low to ground = less evaporation.

(costs are high initially; farmers don’t use them)• Drip Systems – release trickle of water near plant roots. High

initial costs.• Computer controlled systems – monitor soil moisture and turn

on irrigation systems as needed (high initial costs)• Switch to xerophytic crops (little water needed) = xeroscaping.• Consumer should pay true cost of water (include externalities)• Provide subsidies for conservation methods that have high

initial start-up costs!• Treat wastewater to irrigate non-edible crops.

What You Can Do

• Turn faucet off when brushing teeth – (saves 9 gallons of water)

• Fill up sink when shaving (saves 14 gallons of water)• Fill kitchen sink with water to wash pots and pans (saves

25 gallons of water)• When washing car, do not leave hose running (saves

150 gallons of water)• Self service car wash uses only 10 gallons of water• Sponge and bucket uses only 15 gallon of water.• Flushing a toilet uses 5-7 gallons of water – put a

displacement device in tank and reduce it to 2-3 gallons of water per flush.

What Can You Do?

• Install low flow shower head. Decreases water use by 35 gallons for every 5 minutes you are in the shower.

• Reduce the time spent in the shower!• Install low flow aerator faucet heads ($4.00 at Home

Depot or Hardware Store). Reduces water use by 50%.• Use Phosphate-free detergents (Mandatory in Nassau

and Suffolk) to decrease cultural eutrophication.• To Prevent Groundwater Contamination DO NOT

dispose of paint, paint thinner, oil, grease or any other material labeled as hazardous or toxic into the environment or down the drain.

• Town of Islip has special pick ups through WRAP program (1 in fall, 1 in spring) OR you can bring these materials to the Islip Town recycling centers.

Groundwater Contamination

• Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water and irrigation.

• Contamination Sources:a. Livestock wasteb. Underground storage tanks (leak fuel and MTB’s)c. Landfills (leach materials breaking down (metals, hdyrocarbons, etc.)d. Abandoned hazardous waste sites leach heavy metals and solvents into groundwater.

Sanitary Landfill

Groundwater Protection in USA

• Clean up is VERY expensive; and technically not feasible.

• PREVENTION IS BEST!• US Safe Drinking Water Act, 1974 – EPA

established national drinking water standards e. 0 coliform bacteria colonies per 100mL of water.

• (Recall Clean Water Act does not protect groundwater)

EPA MANDATES• 1992 survey showed that 40% of

the US drinking water contained parasitic organisms of Cryptosporidium sp., but not Giardia sp.

• 1996 – EPA mandated that ALL Public Water Suppliers (Suffolk County Water Authority) test for Cryptosporidium sp., but not Giardia sp.

• There are 255 chemicals and compounds that the government requires we monitor in our drinking water

Cryptosporidium sp.

Giardia sp.

Who Has Too Much Water?

• When there is too much water or soils are persistently saturated, rain events can cause disastrous flooding.

• Humans have contributing to increased flooding from:a. deforestationb. Miningc. Overgrazingd. urbanization (hard surface increase leads to infiltration decrease)

Bangladesh

Bangladesh

• 123 million people in one of the poorest countries in the world and 80% of the population live along the shoreline where there are rich, fertile soils.

• Average per capita GNP = $260.00 = 71 cents/day!

• Monsoon season brings continuous flooding during the summer months. It appears to be cyclic and that every four years there are significant monsoonal events since the 1970’s (historically it was about every 50 years!)

Why Does Bangladesh Flood So Frequently?

• Rapid population increase has changed the natural character of the land by:

a. Deforestation which has promoted significant soil erosion.b. Overgrazingc. Unsuitable farming (steep slopes) and unsound farming

practices on these slopes.d. Cleared coastal mangrove forests to provide land to grow

rice. They have removed the wetland structures and decreased or removed the functions they need to survive along the coastlines.

e. No money to restore mangrove swamps!RESULT: Millions of homes are destroyed each year,

thousands of people drown. 30 million people become environmental refugees each year.

How Do We Reduce Flood Risks?

• Channelization to divert water away from communities can have both positive and negative effects. (Florida Everglades are destroyed from ACE water diversion)

• Build levees and dams – when they break = disaster (Hurricane Katrina)

• Restore wetland systems (never achieve 100% replacement of structure and functions)

• Establish Flood Plain Management Plans – How about don’t build in the flood plain?!!

• PREVENTION IS BEST!

FEMA• Federal Emergency

Management Agency• Provide Flood Plain

Maps for every County in the USA. Designed for Insurance Companies.

• Delineate 500 year storm flood elevation

• Delineate 100 year storm flood elevation

• Delineates entire flood plain area.