US Fresh Water Resources Endangered

Wastewater from Cities and Agricultural Runoff are Contributing to an Expensive Salinity Problem

According the US Geological Survey, we have a salt problem. A recent report from the scientific agency warns of a buildup of salinity by both manmade and natural causes in our lakes, streams and rivers. Fertilizer and stormwater runoffs and urban wastewater discharge are among the main sources for the increasing presence of ions such as sodium, sulfate, chloride and magnesium in the water. Drought has further increased the salt concentration. That spells trouble for the spectrum of industries that depend on clean water.

The USGSreportis the first comprehensive look at the growing levels of salts in surface water across the country. About 71% of the salinity can be attributed to natural source. But the remaining 29% are manmade, and about 49% of those come from compounds commonly used to remove snow and ice from roadways. Wastewater discharges from urban communities that contain a jumble of chemical products we use, from toothpaste to detergent, also contain salts that end up in the rivers. A third of the human contributions come from farms and pasture land.

Communities are having to adapt. The city of El Paso, Texas, has increasingly relied on water pumped from wells becausewater from the Rio Grandeis getting too salty as a result of agricultural runoff and urbanization. But the groundwater is salty, too, andrequires expensive desalination plantsto make the water drinkable.

The costs of desalination are passed on to companies in various ways. Even companies that don't need to invest in their own water purification systems can see a jump in water bills if their local agencies need to spend more money monitoring, treating, and restoring salt-stricken watersheds.

Source: The Guardian

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Taxonomy

• Agriculture
• Sludge Separation
• Saline Water