The primary consequence of heat deaths and population migration is lack of water / aridification.  In underdeveloped countries there may be no means of conserving and transporting water, while water distribution systems in developed countries are frequently sometimes hundreds of years old and failing.  They are invariably the oldest municipal infrastructures.  Indeed, in the USA the average water main leakage loss is >20% per AWWA, and incidents of water main failures in the USA and Canada have increased by 27% over a recent 6 year period by a Utah State University comprehensive study.  The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US drinking water infrastructure a grade of "D" in 2020.   Said >20% water main loss is more than most current water recycling and/or desalination projects can replace.   As recently as September 2013 LADWP, the USA's largest municipal water company, simply set its "Unreported Losses" to zero, stating that it had previously no proactive leak detection program.   The California Department of Water resources complains that there are no calibration facilities for large metering systems -- a prerequisite for volume balance calculations / leak detection -- yet continues to do nothing to implement this most vital part of municipal water infrastructure.   It's time that the world begin to take the rigorous calibration of its water measurement systems seriously.  In the words of the noted management specialist Peter Drucker, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."  Without calibration, there is no rigorous basis for measurement -- as required by all quality management programs.

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The primary consequence of heat deaths and population migration is lack of water / aridification.  In underdeveloped countries there may be no means of conserving and transporting water, while water distribution systems in developed countries are frequently sometimes hundreds of years old and failing.  They are invariably the oldest municipal infrastructures.  Indeed, in the USA the average water main leakage loss is >20% per AWWA, and incidents of water main failures in the USA and Canada have increased by 27% over a recent 6 year period by a Utah State University comprehensive study.  The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US drinking water infrastructure a grade of "D" in 2020.

 

Said >20% water main loss is more than most current water recycling and/or desalination projects can replace.

 

As recently as September 2013 LADWP, the USA's largest municipal water company, simply set its "Unreported Losses" to zero, stating that it had previously no proactive leak detection program.

 

The California Department of Water resources complains that there are no calibration facilities for large metering systems -- a prerequisite for volume balance calculations / leak detection -- yet continues to do nothing to implement this most vital part of municipal water infrastructure.

 

It's time that the world begin to take the rigorous calibration of its water measurement systems seriously.  In the words of the noted management specialist Peter Drucker, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."  Without calibration, there is no rigorous basis for measurement -- as required by all quality management programs.